


Noxian Moon

by DaleEarwicker46



Category: Furry (Fandom), Original Work
Genre: Blood and Injury, Blood and Violence, Character Death, Epidemic of buff cute cats, Fights, Multi, Night Terrors, Noxian (Species), Originally Posted on deviantART, Slow Transformation, Some angst, Suicide Attempt, Thunder and Lightning, Weapons, Weird Moon, Werecats
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-08
Updated: 2021-02-21
Packaged: 2021-03-12 04:42:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 12
Words: 29,985
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28629741
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DaleEarwicker46/pseuds/DaleEarwicker46
Summary: The moon isn't supposed to be pink, nor is it supposed to turn people into...oh no.
Relationships: Ezain/Nube Pelliccia, Ryuken Kagura/Arthur Love (One-sided)
Comments: 3
Kudos: 3





	1. Question...

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Deadly_Comedy](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Deadly_Comedy/gifts), [Frankwlf](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Frankwlf/gifts), [ZooFan](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ZooFan/gifts), [DysfunctionalRequest](https://archiveofourown.org/users/DysfunctionalRequest/gifts).



Mike Df sat out in the night sky in the backyard, eying the strangely pink moon with curiosity. As he pulled his phone from his pocket and dialed his boyfriend's number, he began to feel woozy. If you look closer (or squint), you could see he was turning a faint shade of green.

Ezain was in the living room, balancing on one leg while sipping a cup of tea when his phone vibrated in his pocket. Setting down the cup, he reached down into his pocket and pulled it out, placing it to his ear. "Yeah?"

"Um, question. Is the moon supposed to be pink?"

"What? What do you mean?"

A pause before Mike continued, his voice growing weak. "I-I dunno, but I don't feel so-grk."

He heard a clatter and what sounded like pained groans quickly morphing into snarling before the other end hung up.

Perplexed and concerned, the brunette shakily slipped his phone back into his pocket and went off to check up on the greenette out in the back porch. When he got to the door, he peeked through the window and gasped in shock. The entire back porch and all of his punching bags there were trashed and riddled with strange marks. What got his attention was the wrecked area illuminated in a pink hue.

He pushed the door open halfway and stepped through, making sure not to step over any squeaky parts of the floor until he got close to one of his punching bags that were shredded among the rest. Sand poured steadily out from the large bite in the center of it, with small claw marks dotted around the successful incision.

"The hell could have done this?" He wondered aloud. "And where is Mikey?"

The second part of his question was answered by a deep meow from behind. Ezain froze right as he stood up, not moving a single muscle. That didn't sound nowhere close to him, at all. He knew it wasn't a prank because he hasn't done so in a long time.

He looked up to the mirror hanging loosely from the wall in front of him. He couldn't believe what he saw. Behind him, hunched over, was a six-foot creature bathed in an emerald fur coat that shone brightly in the pastel moon, its ears elongated by three inches, and it's tail bushy. The most notable features were its wild blue eyes, disheveled hair, and the ripped, but mostly intact symbol hanging from its chest. The brunette slowly turned around to get a better look.

He recognized him right away.

"M-Mikey?"

The green werecat cocked its head to one side, like it understood him, and sniffed the air. Before he could say anything else, it lunged at him with its clawed paws outstretched towards its target. Ezain's senses by then kick into overdrive. He sidestepped in a swift, but fluid motion as the mass of fur and fury flew by, crashing into the wall. It staggered up to its thick hindpaws and tried swiping at the gladiator, who spun around, sending a heel crashing into the side of its head, knocking it down again.

Holding down a flinch at his now tender foot, he quickly threw the door open, ran throughout the house to the front door. The heavy pounding of paws approached louder and louder. He knew the chances of subduing the ravenous creature that was Mike weren't in his favor and he knew it. Luckily for him, he had a capsule of his reverse rocket in his pocket. He dashed out and slammed the door shut before bolting down the steps, the capsule tightly clutched in his hand.

He took a second to pause and press down the button on the side and threw it down in front of him as he crossed the street to the other side. The door splintered and burst apart just as the little pellet started to twitch and enlarge.

"Come on, come on." He prayed hurriedly as the ground trembled beneath his feet, alerting him of the quickly approaching beast. Fortunately, the large missile was fully formed and ready for lift-off. He was set to jump on and take off when suddenly, a pair of claws ripped across his back, leaving behind three long gashes.

"Shit!" He seethed as he delivered a swift snap kick to its jaw, sending it staggering back, allowing him enough time to board the strange vehicle and point to the sky, like Mike taught him.

"Away we go! Now!"

And to his command, the Reverse Rocket floats up in the air and blew off into the atmosphere.

* * *

"It's not every day you see a pink moon, eh, Shia?" Mestello asked as she stared up at the discolored moon on the balcony of the house. Shiano leaned on the bars, humming softly in agreement. "Yes, it is indeed, yet strange."

Ezina stood beside her sister, an eyebrow cocked. "Yeah, first time I've ever laid eyes on such a phenomenon. Plus, this is one of Kaggy's favorite colors, if he appreciated the beauty in the night, he'd be staring an eyeful at this like a bulldog at the sun."

"Correct," Shiano remarked with a chuckle. "He would never take his eyes off it until morning. I bet his hair would be salmon pink by that time. Or maybe even his eyes."

The blonde giggled at the very thought as Mestello snickered softly and trapped her into a hug. She smiled and coiled her arm around her shoulder, returning the hug.

Their embrace didn't last long when they saw the albino stumble when he got up to get inside.

"You alright there, Shia? Heights didn't bug you any, did it?"

"N-no, just don't feel very-very- ngh!" He doubled over, clutching his stomach tightly.

Ezina stepped forward to help before she felt the same thing and leaned onto her sister for support, who also felt strange.

"What the bloody hell's going on? I think I'm starting to catch a migraine with this splitting headache." She forced out as her head spasmed and throbbed in her fingers that were starting to wither and crack.

"Hell if I know, and this feels just like that day, only w-hnk!" The orange head stopped suddenly as her teeth extended and sharpened. "Shi-shit!"

"Why, why do I feel so soft?" The teen laying down felt around the patches popping all over him. "Why i-is this-hrk!"

* * *

Ryuken stepped up the stairs leading to the door to check out the source of the noise that bugged him.

"Hey! In case you hadn't noticed, I was at the best part of Ip Man, so keep it down, if you can help it."

No answer, save for the sound of growling and pained wailing that suddenly quieted down. Scratching the back of his head in thought, he advanced up to the door and pushed it open. The first thing he saw was the weirdly-colored moon. Instead of its bland white color, it was a pastel pink and gave off a soft glow. The second thing was the ripped clothes on the deck and floor.

"The hell happened here?" He wondered.

A low growl shook him from wondering what became of the three that were just up here a moment ago. His gaze set from the ground to the source of the noises and he took a step back as his eyes widen.

"What the?!"

Sitting across from him on all fours were three huge cats. The one on the left was light grey, burly, and robed in ripped clothing, wearing that one familiar pair of glasses. The other on the right had tangerine fur, blue ripped articles of clothing lay draped across its feminine chest. The third one, cowering behind the two in the middle, was yellow and had black spots dotted all over its entire form in an almost hypnotizing pattern.

The blonde's shock didn't last long, seeing as he knew exactly who these three were. Especially by the ripped clothes scattered all over the floor and hanging on them.

Yet he was still bewildered by the bizarre sight. A little. "What happened to you guys?"

The werecat on the left shambled forward coyly, its harmless gaze set upon him.

Curious but cautious, he hesitantly stepped forward to the grey one he knew was his brother and ran his hand over one of its ears. The others didn't move, nor give off a growl, but instead stared in curiosity while the spotted one watched in jealousy. Surprisingly, instead of biting his hand, it leaned into the touch, purring quite deeply.

"Awww." He cooed. A he pet the docile creature that was Shiano, the yellow feline growled deeply and, without warning, lunged toward the occupied human, paws and claws outstretched.

For many people in such a situation, they would hardly even have time to anticipate the sneak attack, as they would be pinned in seconds. For Ryuken though, he only needed but a second to act. He had the cat-like reflexes in his system to thank for that.

He jumped back just as the werecat was a split-second away from contact. One could only imagine the shocked look on its face when its target consisted of two things: Were-cat Shiano & thin air.

They clashed, yowling, and screeching in shock as they entangle themselves with each other, trying to separate from one another. The orange feline sitting there looked like it wanted to facepalm. The entire sight made the blonde burst out laughing, smacking his knee.

"Oh! Oh! You should've seen your face! You thought you had me, but you actually had Foureyes! Ohoho, christ- yipe!"

His moment of triumph was no more when the orange werecat lashed at him, swiping wildly at him, the only thing she hit being his coat. Before it could slash at him, he yanked off his short coat and swiftly wrapped it around its wrists before vaulting off the balcony, as the struggling pair had recovered from their earlier folly.

The blonde landed hard on the ground, wincing from the sharp pain shooting up in his legs, but pushed himself up into a run nonetheless. The adrenaline kept him from feeling the pain and from slowing to look behind him in case the trio were in pursuit.

* * *

A flamingo-haired teen sat on the bench, gazing lovingly at the pink moon. Sighing, he removed his glasses, revealing his pink pupils that were previously green.

"Heh, it's that time of the year, huh?"

He said to himself as he saw off in the distance, Colleo running with a dark grey werecat with blue messy hair in hot pursuit. Chuckling, he leaned back into the bench, gazing at the moon and the silhouette of what appears to be a missile with a man sitting atop it.


	2. To the park!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yo, this pinky guy can tell us what the hell's going on here!

Jesus, his legs ached like hell from all of that running, especially from when he landed on his feet hard from jumping over the ledge from the tangerine werecat trying to claw his face off earlier. He had his catlike reflexes to thank for that, he'll admit once more.

While Ryuken blindly dashed into the park, he took time to rack his brain over the course of what had occurred. Here he was downstairs in the kitchen, finishing off some spicy noodles while binge-watching all of the Ip Man when he heard a series of obnoxiously loud groaning coming from above out at the deck.

By the way he heard it, in his own way, he thought they were going at it like literal rabbits when unbeknownst to him, they actually were undergoing transformation. He found out right away what the noise really was when he saw three bulky, more fluffy, and feral felines huddled together. Question is, how did they get like that in the first place? It didn't make any sense.

And from his escape and the miles ran, here he was, hunched over on one knee, gasping for breath while trying not to fall over when he heard something land not far off. He turned his head to the source of the noise and saw Mike's reverse rocket settle down on the grass. The rider of it wasn't the greenette but was Ezain instead. His little boy-toy from Brussels.

After letting the ache in his legs ebb away, he made his way towards the man sitting atop the rocket, doing that casual hands-in-the-pockets stroll. He waved when the brunette turned his way and did the same.

"Yo, legs."

"Hey." He huffed in response, wincing slightly as he lifted his legs over the hull of the rocket and hopped off. When he did, he reached back and pressed a button on the hull. When Ryuken stepped closer, his lips part to speak, but pause when he sees the missile glow and shrink in midair into a pellet that the brunette caught in a blood-covered hand and stuffed into his pocket.

"Now what were you about to say?"

The blonde twirled a finger around his purple strand of hair, "I dunno, what's up, I guess. By the way, I can smell your blood, you alright?"

"M'fine. Just a little back injury, forgot to pack a stim too." He replied, his voice almost strained from the wound stinging in the cool night air. "Oh, and don't bother asking about how Mike is, he's not right."

Ryuken raised an eyebrow, "What? Something wrong with him."

"Ugh, I'm binge-watching The Raid while balancing when he calls, asking about this weird pink moon." He explained, pointing up towards the glowing moon. "I go to look outside at the back porch, everything is ripped and shredded to pieces, and there he was, buff and furrier than usual. He tried to pounce on me but I manage to get away after he got a good hit in."

He turned around to show the bloodied claw marks on his back beneath his ripped shirt that was soaked red. "It stopped bleeding on the way here, but it itches now."

The blonde's eyes narrow, he could make out the discolored area on his skin around the marks that weren't covered in blood.

_And that makes six, not counting Grassetto and Ryder_

"Uh-huh."

"So anywho, what's going on with you?"

"Well, I'm not going into much detail either. I'm downstairs, eating some top-notch ramen watching Ip Man kick ass when I hear Foureyes and the girls doing it on the balcony."

Ezain frowned, but Ryuken goes on before he opened his mouth. "At least that's what I thought they were doing before I went up there and saw them the same way you found Mosshead."

Sighing, he scratched the back of his head and looked off into the night, ogling silently at the tiny stars in the sky that twinkled pink and white in the shine of the strange phenomenon that was the moon as the brunette bent his arm behind his back to scratch at the closed wound before a soft ahem brought their attention.

"Gentlemen."

A pink-haired male wearing a pink coat, striped undershirt, and hot pink pants. He wore light magenta shoes and pink shades atop his head. The blonde's eye twitched. The memories of this flamingo-haired queer flashed vividly in his mind.

"Well well well, if it isn't Pinkīmakkupinkusutā. What the hell do you want?" He sneered.

Arthur gave a soft chuckle, loving how cute he looks upset, and sighed softly. "Oh, nothing much. I heard you two were having weird cat problems with your loved ones and I thought I'd tell you about that."

"Oh sure, why not?" Ryuken retorted, mocking the pinkette's voice. "I bet you'll tell us about the moon being pink as well since it's your favorite color and all."

He hummed, slipping off his glasses, exposing his glowing pink pupils. "But first, did you know I had beige pupils?"

"Uh, yeah, when I almost fractured your jaw that day." The blonde responded, his hand curling into a fist.

Ignoring that, Arthur continued, "Well, when this 'moon', as you call it, shines at night, these turn its exact color."

As he spoke with the two paying him mind, A severely wounded man limped around out of their attention, bloodied hand tightly clenching his neck. He managed to catch himself on a nearby tree before collapsing facefirst on the ground.

"Ok. But that doesn't explain Mikey becoming a werecat and the moon being pink." Ezain said bitterly, as the scratches on his back started to itch more.

"Alright, alright. But I'll start with the moon first."

Both men nod in agreement, despite their impatience. Arthur beamed and brought both hands to his mouth, taking a deep breath, and released with his hands going behind his back.

"So, this so-called _moon_ you see up there is actually Planet Nox. It overtakes the real moon and shines its rays down upon the earth wherever it's facing multiple times a year. The dwellers of said planet are called Noxians. Which are human/fairy hybrids with pink hair, like me, Chiodo, and Mach. We're a very...peculiar type as you can see. While your daily lives and activities aren't very different from ours, we kinda get a bit 'handsy' with one another at a certain time of month." He explained throwing air quotes while Ryuken made a small noise of disgust.

"Not only that but we, unsurprisingly, have heat cycles that take place about 3 times a month at random. 6 times for females since theirs is more potent."

'That explains why he's got multiple boyfriends on speed dial _._ ' Ryuken thought bemused. "And when you _Noxians_ aren't boning three random times a month, how kinky are you?"

"Very. We're a bit more creative with them than you'll probably ever be, no offense. I'd rather not give out examples until the time comes. In another week." He added with a wink.

Holding down the urge to puke, Ezain swallowed hard. "Right, anything else?"

"Well, there's a 45% chance that a Noxian is born with superpowers. If they are but aren't taught to control it in 6 years or so, then they'll be ejected down to earth. Their parents are given the decision to go with them if they please, but only if they return once their offspring is ready to fend for themselves, same couldn't be said for me and Chio. We aren't very big fans of superhumans as it turns out, kind of a long story. When me and Chio were ejected here, we crash-landed in some orphanage that was thankfully empty. Mach came down years later in the same place we dropped down into, believe it or not with his mother that we were taken in by when we were playing outside with the others. Last I heard, she got with a human and had a hybrid...of a hybrid." He finished sheepishly.

"Leo Cannon?" Ezain piped up.

"Yep," Arthur confirmed. "Man, was he a spry little rascal. He used to make himself scarce with his ability he stumbled upon while we all jumped on the trampoline one time. Made us three chuckle while his mother was scared for him." 

Ryuken's once stern eyes now shined with interest as Ezain sat on the ground cross-legged. His head propped up on his hands. They never knew much of Mach and Leo's childhoods ever since being kicked off their home planets, but they did know it was awesome. Unlike theirs.

"Cool. And what about the wildlife?" The blonde asked.

"Oh, about the same as yours. But that we've abducted a few, mostly the domestic kind. Plus, instead of the whole 'circle of life' mumbo-jumbo, the animals just lay down and evaporate into floating energy that just floats around for a month or two before morphing into another being. We've invented a contraption that lets us control what animal they rebirth as. They aren't really sentient, but they do put up quite a fight when being pulled in. If you were wondering if we age, then we do- er, kind of. We live up to a total of 150 years, believe it or not. The unique thing is, we don't grow wrinkles or become weak, we simply begin to flicker around the 120-year mark. I and the others here are remarkably young as a matter of fact, really.

"Wow." The brunette murmured, stars shining in his eyes.

"Wow is right, Inzain. Oh, and about the werecat thing. Uh well, since Chiodo was born with the power to turn into a feline at any time he wished. He could also give anyone he bites or scratches the power to do so as well, as they can to anyone else and so on."

Ryuken huffed, already knowing.

_Catification_

"As it turns out, these large rays from Nox, uh, 'enhance' the ability of any Noxian. As in, anyone with the power to transform into an animal will phase into the werewolf version whenever they look up at the planet or is bathed in its light, like Chiodo. Especially if someone was just now bitten or scratched."

"That explains a thing or two." He whispered as he stared up in the night sky.

The pinkette looked down to Ezain, who was too busy dealing with the itching sensation on his back with Ryuken looking as though he forgot something. With his eyes narrowed, he went over and circled around the seated man, his eyes glued to his back. The marks where the claws once made their mark was pale blue and spread all throughout his back crusted in dried blood that began to flake off through the ripped hole of his shirt. The entirety of it was illuminated by the glow of the moon-like planet above.

The brunette followed his gaze, "So basically..." He drawled fearfully, already knowing the answer.

"Yeah," He confirmed, "you can transcend humanity now. But as a werecat for a while."

The blonde's gaze returned to Arthur, hardened, but partially softened, "How long is a while?"

"Until my home planet revolves away from this part of the earth at around sevenish in the morning. By the way, why haven't you turned yet, Ryu?"

Oh. He was busy wracking his brain over what happened to his brother and the girls and trying not to pass out from all the running to notice he didn't feel a thing out of the ordinary at all. Hell, he wasn't even sure how he wasn't a feral beast right now or why. "I...have no idea."

"Oh yes, I almost forgot. If you master the power given to you by Chiodo alongside your own, considering the town we live in, you won't become a werecat, but will regardless instead of your normal anthropomorphic form. At least by your own will." He finished, sighing deeply.

"Huh, sweet," Ryuken said, flipping back his hair that shined in the night sky.

"Great info and all, but I'm a bit concerned about one thing."

"Yeah?"

Inhaling deeply, Ezain stood up and placed both hands on Arthur's shoulders tightly. He leaned in, his nose centimeters away from the Noxian's, "So basically, you're saying there are five werecats going around ripping people to shreds until sunrise? And that there's no way to turn them back, let alone stop it from spreading from this part of the suburbs into the city?"

The pinkette shied away from the brunette's intense glare, even though his voice was calm. "Er, no. They'll, uh, try to spread the 'Catification' thing along to whoever they chase down. When they tackle you to the ground, they immediately become docile and play around with you a bit before sinking their claws/fangs into you, making you one of them, like I explained before."

The tight grip on his shoulder lessens, "Ok... And if you resist? Like, hit them or something?"

His nervous features darken at the question. "You die. He told me so the last time it happened."

"Ok." He let go of the pinkette. "And how do we turn them back? And quickly, because if they manage to turn all of the suburbs and go to the town, it'll be a complete shitshow. There's stronger people in the richer parts of Gladiatorville that won't hesitate for even a second to kill the monsters off."

"I-I, I don't know."


	3. Solution in one hand

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There's no real way to solve the werecat epidemic but there is one way...before they're met with a surprise.

"The hell you mean you don't know? You gotta know something, Pinkie!" Ezain demanded.

"Hey, this is Chiodo's enhanced power we're talking about here, he never told me a thing about how to switch it off when it got like this." Arthur defended while taking a few steps back, his voice quivering underneath the concerned tone it carried.

"I know," Ryuken stated, stepping in between the two. As they stand there in silence from the blonde's bold statement, the bloodied man behind the tree began to convulse and spasm as he growled under his breath unbeknownst to the pair.

A few seconds pass by before the brunette spoke up, "Know what?"

"Uh-uh, I dunno. I sorta lost the words for it there for a second."

"Well, there's gotta be an answer for what you know."

Scoffing, "Ah, you know, Lucas does have an incest-crazed sister that has the answer to our growing problem here," He reached down into his pocket and pulled out a small vial with an anti-cat symbol that contained an orange liquid.

Both men eyed the small thing in disbelief, especially Ezain, who held a look of increasing anger. This is their town's salvation? Is he joking? People's lives are at stake here and this the response?! 

"What is that?" He grits through clenched teeth as he pointed at the vial in his hand. He simply shrugged, "Anti-Catification. Duh."

"And how would a teaspoon help us- no, scratch that, Joyce made this? How long did it take her to? Huh?"

"Yep. Took her three months. I didn't exactly think this through, I thought she made a bigger dose but I guess not." He eyed the 'answer' more, studying it like it's the finest piece of jewelry he's ever laid eyes on.

Before he goes on to say anything else, he noticed something stagger towards them. Whoever it was, it posed a threat. It wasn't until the moonlight had fully revealed the twitchy hooligan that he unknowingly took a step back in internal shock. 

It was Colleo, but he didn't look as such by a long sight.

The half of his face had mostly disintegrated, leaving behind a pre-formed were-feline face painted in light brown fur while the other half crackled and smoldered away. His furred torso puffed up from the enormous rip in his shirt, his skin melting away down elsewhere. One of his legs was finished transforming but the other stayed the same. Therefore, he walked funny, while his arms were bulked up and had cracks in some areas that quickly melted away into fur.

"Oh, God..." Ezain gaped.

"Aw geez, I told him Chio wasn't gonna tolerate anymore his bull," The blonde mumbled, "Look what happened."

"Actually, he started letting him take a peek into the room now." Arthur piped up.

"Shit, since when?"

Before he answered, a pillar of light from Planet Nox shot down and enveloped the mutating mass that was Colleo for a short moment before fading away. A split-second after, the hazel-haired man's transformation sped up tremendously right before the three. Now a full-fledged were-feline with a bushy tail bobbing behind it stood before them.

The blonde tched, "I got this."

He tossed the vial to the pinkette, who caught it midair, and walked towards the crouched feline, cracking his knuckles. The muscular beast roared and charged the blonde.

His nostrils flared as he planted both feet on the ground, sizing himself up for the impact. When the beast was 5 meters away, he jumped up and threw his right foot out, catching the charging werecat by the jaw with a partially muffled thud that echoed in the air. 

The impact sent it staggering a few feet back, whining from the blooming pain in its jaw before charging forward again. This time, he swiped his claws at Ryuken, who sidestepped the swing by an inch before coming back with three haymakers to its burly chest and ending with an ariel spinning kick that hit home at the side of its face. That knocked it down, but not before it grabbed him by the leg and dragged him to the ground.

The air left the blonde's lungs in a hurry as he plopped straight on the werecat's soft, but burly chest. He groaned softly, trying to get some air back into his lungs before the creature wrapped its arms around him and squeezed, forcing a pained choke out of the blonde. From afar, one could see it was an oversized pet playing with its owner when actually, it was a werecat bearhugging the life out of him instead.

"Gh-gah!A little help would be nice!" He managed to shout as he felt his arms begin to bend and his joints creak. The brunette, with a small grunt, zipped over and smashed his heel dead-center into the beast's forehead, causing it to roar and release Ryuken, who rolled away with akimbo P90s in each hand, his left eye violet and angry. Before he could take aim and open fire, an orange cloud of mist blew by him, encasing the  
menace.

Ezain had jumped away from the stunned beast's blind swipe and dashed back to the crouched blonde by the same he caught a glimpse of Arthur dipping his finger into the antidote. They watched in awe as the creature's mass rapidly began to shrink and wither away. Its fur melted away, leaving behind drenched skin plastered with ripped clothing as its roars dissolved into weak shouting. When the orange fog disappeared, standing bo-legged in the midst was Colleo back to normal, his rags hanging off him and a small bleeding gash on his forehead.

"What the hell?" Ryuken murmured as the man forced a 'thank you' smile and dropped to the ground passed out. He then remembered he passed the Noxian the vial and spun around to see he held the open bottle and a prick of the orange liquid on one of his fingertips.

"What'd you do?"

Arthur looked from the confused blonde and to the substance on the tip of his index finger and back again a few times before finally answering, "This? Oh...oh. I should have told you sooner, but you were a bit busy trying to wrestle down what could overpower a den of bears. You see, I have the ability to excel a small amount of liquid into gas that covers a large distance. All I have to do is dip some of it on my fingertips, mostly my index finger, and point towards wherever I want to fire."

As weirded out Ezain was by the hybrid's power, he was sure it could be the solution to all of this. And as for the guy he just ax-kicked, he hoped he held back enough so he wouldn't wake up with amnesia, or at least partially. He made sure to remember that these werecats they were fighting are still human, which means he shouldn't try to go all out. But for Ryuken, he hoped he thought the same because he seemed all too ready to turn the dude into human swiss.

Thank God for this fairy's puff power.

"Oh. Well, I did say I got this, right? I didn't say jump in, you know." The blonde chided while he made sure his ribs weren't broken. "But whatever, you know."

"I'm sure it hasn't crossed your mind this gentleman has a family. Plus, you sort of called for it when he was giving you a big hug on the ground." 

"Sorry, oh Mister Morality man, of course, I knew he had a family, I was just in the moment." Ryuken huffed in a sarcastic tone, ignoring the second part. But Arthur was sure he saw a hint of guilt flash in those gorgeous yellow pupils of his. "Of course you did."

"So, what's the game plan here? Because I know that since we've been here, more people were either getting bitten or bitten to pieces at this point." The brunette went on as distant screams and howls echoed through the night air. The Noxian plants two fingers to his forehead, his eyes glowing pastel. "And, what are you doing, Arthur, buddy?" he questioned confused.

"Counting how many are infected by Chiodo's power- ah-ah-ah, there we go." He breathed a sigh of relief as his eyes glow regressed. 

"What is it?"

"Only 24 werecats. Among Chio and the others. Plus, my powers are actually as enhanced as his. Therefore, instead of a regular cloud of gas, I can shoot a huge wall of fog that travels over half the state of Florida," He moved his limp arm around, grimacing slightly at the numb sensation left there. Like he didn't have that arm there in the first place. "Only one problem, because my ability is upgraded by Planet Nox, a single puff regardless of the size will render my entire arm numb and dead until dawn, thanks to Colleo over there."

He motioned towards the still man in the grass that the two men eyed with slight caution. "So now, uh, we've got but one shot at this."

The blonde nodded, "Which means our plan is this: we bait them back to this very spot and spray em."

"How?" They both asked in unison.

"Simple. Two trucks & buttloads of fish. There's supposedly 24 wildcats out there in the suburbs, we should hurry and get to it before more are phased or killed." He smacked his open palm with his fist.

"Uhm, quick question. Where do we find those two things?" Ezain piped in.

"Duh, we're like, a mile away from the parking lot. Plus, there's this dock south of here, Loin Scent Harbor I think, that has a giant freezer full of fish. Before that, we'll need coordinates as I only went down there once a few years back. Ergo, I don't know where it is."

The memory of Ryuken and Mike raiding the storage unit while high on catnip resurfaced in his mind. Luckily, a certain gang leader knew the way, as he and Ezain had gone there a few times to fish and share secrets. "I know just the person for that."

Both of the two turn to face him.

"Who?"

"Bruno Blues."


	4. Journey, Stoppage, Exit

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They set off to their next destination...However, their stay might not be for long

The three rode down the road that lead to the Indigo Ingots territory. Ryuken at the wheel of the pink truck that belonged to Arthur, with him in the back and Ezain in the front. As they traveled, two shadowed figured followed closely behind unbeknownst to the pair.

"Ok, let me get this straight," Ryuken said as he pulled into the street with the sidewalks painted blue that glistened in the night sky. "That bluester knows where the pier is?"

"Yeah. Though, I'm a little confused at why you waited this long to ask." Ezain replied, his words dripped with snark.

"I was processing, dummy."

"I know that. I just have a nasty feeling."

"About what?"

He took a deep breath, "I have a feeling this place was already hit."

The blonde shifted an eye back and forth, watching for any signs of danger. So far, there were none, nor was there anything out of the ordinary, except the thugs in dark blue jumpsuits eyeing the passing vehicle with suspicion.

"Nah, we're in these guys turf, they'll be fine."

The Noxian peeked from the back, his eyes narrowed, "Guys? I think we're- whoa!" he suddenly shouted as the vehicle came to a sudden stop, sending him tumbling headfirst in between the two.

"Here?" Ryuken said, smiling faintly as he turned his head towards the Noxian laying on the empty space of the seat in a funny position. The side of his face planted in the cushion with the rest of his body bent over the seat.

"Y-yeah, exactly." He huffed as he managed to get back into his seat with one arm and attempted to fix his tousled hair with Ezain snickering at the sight.

"Alright then. Zs, with me." He nodded his head as he got out with the brunette doing the same. Arthur came out and went around to the rest, blowing kisses to anyone he saw. As he joined up with the two, the blonde jabbed a finger in his direction. "And Arthur, no sus."

"Oh relax, Kaggy, I'm not hurting anyone." He defended with a curt tone as he winked at a nearby Ingot member who returned the gaze with a glare, his trigger finger tightening on the gun holstered in his pants.

"No, you're that far away from losing your other arm if you keep acting a skank, even if you come back to life in an hour, which is the time we can't afford to lose." He scolded as they all advance towards the cul-de-sac, the heart of the Ingots.

The walk to the boss's house was easy, considering the two were well-known here, except Arthur, but it wasn't too difficult to convince them that he wouldn't be too much of a bother.

"Sorry, I can't help it. We male Noxians have a terrible hobby of flirting."

"The wrong way," Ezain added, to which he scoffed.

When they got to the steps of Bruno's house, despite the stares from the thugs nearby, Ryuken went forward and knocked a few times. As he waited, he turned back to the pinkette staring lovingly at a long blue-haired teen who was chatting with another with her hair tied in a bun. Sighing, he placed both hands on his shoulders and spun him around.

"Listen, while me and Zs talk with the boss for directions, you sit out here and scout for werecats. No flirting, no simping. Capiche?"

Arthur smirked slyly, "Caposh~."

"Ugh." The blonde groaned before letting him go and turning back up the steps beside the brunette. The pinkette took a second to gaze at his backside before he whipped around and placed a finger to his temple.

As they both wait for a response from the door, the brunette's vision began to slightly blur as he leaned against Ryuken, who gave a questioned hum, for support.

He shook himself a little at stepped back from the confused blonde, muttering a sorry. He shifted nervously as his eyes wander to the man beside him, his pale yellow hair radiant in the moonlight alongside his focused eyes that appeared to be boring a hole into the oak door in front of him.

Now that he thinks about it, when did his hair color change? Just then, after they met, his hair was as white as snow. Plus, he always seemed twitchy, like he's up to something. He even had that miffed look on his face whenever he saw him. The first time Ezain met the strange teen some years ago, he was pretty fine for the most part. Got along pretty easily too.

The only thing that made him most anxious around the guy was his mid-short temper. To be frank, when he expressed his love for furries out loud in public, a few stragglers (two of those four being Zero and Regian) nearby picked on him and his brother about it. They spat out that one word combined with furries and what you call those with a certain interest in boys only once before they were brought such an intense hurt, they immediately turned over a new leaf and started to love furries soon after.

Another time was when Arthur ran by and groped him at an intersection one time and got his jaw partially dislocated with most of his teeth knocked out. A month later, he sees three life-sized cats frolicking around in their front yard. It didn't take long for him to learn another feline by the name of Chiodo was the cause of it through Ryuken.

From that time up to before the day Mike dumped a pail of snakes on him, his hair was relatively the same whereas it was a light yellow instead of white. He never asked about it at all, especially when that camo-wearing vet from the Fallout dimension came out clutching his injured hand. Up to now, he still doesn't know how it got like that, especially after the intense duel they had after he found out who almost killed Mike. Perhaps now's the time.

"So..." Ezain started, staring off into the distance.

The blonde turned his head slightly, eyes in his direction. "So, what?"

"Uh, what happened with your hair? If I may ask."

"Dyed it."

Oh. "R-really?"

"Yeah."

"You dyed it?"

"Yeah. I, uh, felt a little bummed just staring at this atop my head, felt like an old man, so I brought back some of what was once golden with some hair dye." The blonde answered, running his hand over his head.

"Uhhh, ok then."

Just then, a muffled voice came from inside, demanding to know who was at the door. There came the sound of shuffling and of the many locks unlocking before the door swung open, revealing Bruno Blues pointing at the blonde's forehead, a snub revolver painted blue.

Ezain jolted at the hostile welcome, taken off guard.

"Sup, Blues." Ryuken greeted, unaffected by the weapon against his forehead.

"Sup." The bluette's cool gazed turns to the brunette beside him, a smile forming. He holstered his weapon and held his hand out to him.

"Hey there, Kicks, I didn't see ya there."

He calmed himself down and shook the leader's hand, smiling as well, albeit coyly. "Hey."

"So, what brings you two, plus that guy, to my humble abode?" he asked happily as he looked past both men to the Noxian sitting down on one of the steps.

"Well," The brunette stated. "We were wondering if you have the coordinates to the pier south of here."

"Loin Scent Harbor? What for?"

He and Ryuken exchange a look before he turned back to Bruno. "Just-just, uh, to bask in the weird moonlight of course."

The blue-haired man chuckled, both hands on his hips, "Well why didn't cha say so? Hell, I bet that pink moon up there must look gorgeous, I'll say."

"Hehe, yeah-yeah it does, I guess."

"Ok then," Bruno reached into his back pocket and pulled out a folded piece of paper. "Here you gents go, take care now-"

"Boss! Boss!" A capped Ingot member came barreling down the street with another close behind. The leader's cool demeanor turned slightly alarmed as the two turn towards the source of the voice. The brunette's narrowed eyes widened at the sight of them.

Both of them looked worse for wear, the one wearing a cap had 4 bleeding gashes stretched across his chest, three bite marks on both arms and legs, the upper half of his jumpsuit torn from the shoulder. The other, wearing a beanie, had a sizable section of his jumpsuit at the legs burnt off, a deep gashed bite on his forearm, a scrape on his cheek, and one hell of a 3rd degree burn on the other cheek.

Bruno stepped out the doorway, brushing both men aside and going around the pinkette who looked distressed to assess the wounded. The capped one fell forward to his knees while the other fell to his knees and then face-first on the pavement. But not before the bluenette got there and caught him. He held the unconscious thug in his arms as he looked the first in the eye with concern.

"What happened? Ben?"

"What happened?" Ben repeated, his eyes wild. "What happened was just, just-wow!" He began pacing back-and-forth, rambling on about what became of them. "Me, Kev, and Steven were out back at my place, eating steak and all that jazz when these huge bears jumped us! They weren't just rabid animals from that low budget zoo, no! They were yellow, orange, and light brown!"

The gangster's frantic explanation caught the attention of Arthur, "Wait, huge bears? How many?" He popped in as he stepped closer to the group huddled around the three on the ground.

"Wh-what the?! Fuckin- four! Four of them! Steven came out there, shootin' at them, he managed to wound the small one after the yellow torched Kev."

"And Steven? Where is he?"

Ben immediately stopped walking, his head tipped down, the cap shadowing half of his face. Small rivulets of tears ran down his cheeks as he slowly turned to face Bruno. "He-he's dead."

The entire gang gasped as Ezain and Ryuken listened in, with dreadful looks on their faces. They, especially Arthur, knew exactly who those four bears were.

_Ezina, Mestello, Mach, and Leo_

"Yeah. He got the one that lept on me and jumped in with a 500 when the rest of them pounced on him. It didn't take after we got out that we heard him screaming bloody murder and then...nothing."

Everyone was silent. Even the blonde. Not just because a valued member of the Ingots was dead, but that the werecats were now in this neighborhood. And from the probably baby blue marks these two had, it wouldn't very long before they joined them.

Only one thing was certain, they need to go, Now.

Ryuken took the brunette by the hand and speed-walked over to the truck behind the grieving thugs.

"H-hey! What are you doing?" He demanded, startled by his sudden actions. "We have to move. We have the directions, we took a moment of silence for some blue scumbag, let's go."

"B-but, whoa!"

Arthur held Ben in a comforting hug when he felt him warm up and twitch in his arms.

"There there, it'll be alright- huh?"

The weeping bluenette didn't respond as his soft broken sobs morphed into pained whimpering. Bruno was there, patting his back while two other Ingots helped Kevin to consciousness before he tensed and turned over, gripping his stomach. As they looked over him in concern, smoke began to billow in small vapors from his head and beneath his torn jumpsuit. The pinkette turned his head and gaped, he turned around and noticed the same was happening with Ben, who clutched his head while cracks traveled up his neck from beneath his ripped suit.

"Oh my..." He heard the truck start up and Ezain stumble in. "G-guys! Wait up!" He shouted as he hastily released the gangster and sputtered his condolences as he ran for the truck that reversed.

* * *

"Yo, he's up."

"Yeah, but he's not doin' very good- wait, is he smokin'?"

The boss came over to the two looking over him and brushed them aside and knelt down to him. "Kev, you alright?" He asked as he slowly turned him over. The beanie Ingot turned back over, his eyes glowing sky blue and his bared canines longed and sharpened and his skin cracked and disintegrating.

" **Grrr...** "


	5. Hittin' the road (Bozo!)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The trip to their destination does not go without a hitch.

"Seriously? You go and try to leave me behind to fend for myself?" Arthur belittled as he scooted in the middle to get more comfortable as the truck sped down the street.

"Well sorry, you were a little busy hugging the newest member of the werecat tribe. Hell, I bet you wanted in." The blonde driving retorted.

"W-what?!" He blinked, "I had no idea the guy was transforming in my arms. Plus, those four so-called 'bears'..."

"Uh-huh." The blonde finished, "Yellow, Orange, Brown, and light brown. No friggin' duh."

Arthur huffed silently and leaned back into the chair, cradling his arm, that he was starting to regain feeling of. Sure, he knew the street punk was infected and all, but he couldn't help but provide a bit of comfort, the guy was in pain- well, a bit more physically than mentally. Of course, it sort of slipped his mind about those cuts on him though.

Ezain studied the surprisingly well-drawn map that lead from the Indigo Ingots territory to not only Loin Scent Harbor, but some other places as well. The black market, the sniper's post, the Lemonade Grenades turf (that was scribbled out), and to the latest club. When Ryuken came up to the sign that read Hyun Street, he tapped his shoulder and pointed left. "That way."

With an affirmative nod, he pulled down left into a lively but resting neighborhood. Trash was sprinkled like confetti all over the place, stretching a long way. Probably the results of a late-night party. Or not.

As they cruise down the road in silence, the brunette felt a tiny pinch on his shoulder. He turned his head briefly back to the Noxian with an accusatory glance, who slept with his head buried in a strawberry dotted pillow. He turned around and brushed the sensation off his shoulder before another sting buzzed in his arm.

With a silent 'ow', he turned his arm over to assess the phantom sensation and almost gasped in shock. There was a long thin crack zigzagging from his wrist down underneath to his elbow. A small brown tuft of hair began to pop up from the middle of his arm and the crack at his wrist began to slowly grow bigger and stretch to his palm.

_The hell?_

He gaped at his affected arm in alarm, explanations shot off rapidly in his brain each one trying but failing to figure out what was happening. When did this happen? What was up with this enormous crack that's sprouting hair?

Was he... Was he starting to become like Mike? Like Arthur said?

No. No, that isn't possible. He couldn't be, not ever. Perhaps he was sleepy and he was seeing things, or maybe this was some tattoo he somehow didn't notice up until now. Or, maybe... Oh yeah!

The big, fluffy monster that was Mike Df had managed to get a few licks in before he blew off on his Reverse Rocket. But wait, he still doesn't know why he's growing hair though. Could it be from-

The truck lurched to a stop, breaking Ezain out of his trance. He looked up from his arm to the road that split up in two directions and the signs parallel each other to the left that said, 'Alfa Drive' and 'Pier Turn'.

"Oi, which way?" The blonde on the wheel spoke, his eyes glued to the road, not noticing the strange wound he harbored. Shaking himself aware, he took a look at the map, to the line from their current location that pointed...

"Uh, right." He pointed with his normal arm while he pinned the other down on his lap.

With a hmph, he stepped on the gas and turned down that direction. Before he pressed down further, his ears twitch faintly to the distant sounds of gunshots.

"Huh. That didn't take long."

He pulled down the road towards their next destination. As they venture further down the road, the pier gradually came into view. Almost there.

Meanwhile, Ezain's silent noises slowly grew pained and strained as the now burning sensation in his forearm spread up to his shoulder and to all over his hand. He shakily turned his hand over, the small brown tuft from earlier had grown larger and had spread across from the fractured skin on his wrist to his elbow and slowly growing up his arm.

Whatever was happening with him, it was getting worse. Plus, he felt the same aching sting shooting up his legs as well. It got to where he was audibly panting that Ryuken had begun to take notice, as he turned his head slightly, an eyebrow raised in question.

"You alright?"

Gulping down a grunt, he gave him the ok sign with his unaffected hand whereas his left was becoming paw-like. "I'm good."

Thank God, the car lights weren't on in here. The blonde turned back and sped up the vehicle.

The three ride towards Loin Scent Harbor in silence once more before the truck bounced a little. Ezain blinked and looked carefully at the window out the door.

Nothing.

The blonde at the wheel didn't react, but gave a brief hum and shrugged. It bounced again, this time jolting the pinkette awake and making the two up front tense. "The hell was that?"

"Ugh, are we there yet?" Arthur yawned. He wasn't sleepy long after he heard a growl behind him. Ezain whipped his head towards the mirror. A large figure wearing party glasses and ragged clothes sat poised to attack on the bed of the truck.

_Epitaffio_

"Shit! There's one on the back!" He yelled. The blonde nodded and took one hand off the steering wheel, a half transparent bizon manifesting and pointed out the window towards the beast, and fired. A few shots strike it in the shoulder, causing it to roar and grab at his wrist and squeeze.

He grunted as he felt his wrist pop. His other hand on the wheel also left and clamped down on the huge paw trying to drag him out. The brunette cursed and quickly grabbed hold of the wheel as the truck swerved around, dipping too close to the water a few times, with Arthur in the back, in fetal position, cowering soundly.

"Hey! Don't let it drag you out, we're next to a huge lake!" He yelled as he struggled to keep the vehicle straight and in motion.

The blonde manifested an FMJ in the other hand and took aim at the paw crushing his hand and squeezed the trigger hard. His aim was off due to the vehicle he was getting dragged from swerving but managed to gravely wound the were-feline into letting go with a distorted yowl.

He pulled himself back in. But not before it swiped at him with its good one, missing by an inch and hitting the closed window in the back, shattering it, prompting the pinkette to squeal in terror. Ezain leaned back and let the blonde take the wheel and peeked out the window as he felt the weight of the truck lighten.

The werecat had jumped off and limped away, not looking back.

"You get it?"

Ryuken panted softly, snapping his wrist back into place, "Yeah, just one of its paws. Couldn't really gun it down, I knew who it was behind those glasses."

Realization softened the man's alarmed features, "Oh. That guy."

The truck lurched to a stop just as Arthur had sat up and opened his mouth, once again sending him tripping over the seat into the blonde's lap.

"We're here."

Lion Scent Harbor. Ezain almost forgot about their main objective, he was too busy trying to keep his consciousness and the pastel truck straight during the brief clash with the were-Italian, that he didn't realize they were close this whole time.

"Right. We are." Arthur grunted, sitting himself up and stepping out. "So, where do the fishermen store their large bounty of leftover fish at?"

The rest get out and step on the dock in front of the door of a navy blue-painted station. The pink shine of the planet illuminated the inside of the place even as it was dark.

Ryuken stepped forward, a Mac 10 in his hand, and pulled the trigger.

The sounds of rapid-fire and glass sprinkling the wood/concrete floor reverberated throughout the night air, both men looked stood close, looking around nervously, as the loud noise the blonde was making with his unprotested method of breaking in would certainly attract unwanted attention. But they were short on time and didn't have any other option.

At least no-one was there. If it were one of the workers that stayed behind, Ezain could hastily knock them unconscious and place them to where they wouldn't be bothered until morning. Fortunately, the only car here was the Noxian's pink truck and the pill in his pocket that held the Reverse Rocket.

The blonde clearing his throat brought him from his thoughts. "From what I can gather from my one visit here, they store their fish in this cooler in the back. Problem is, they aren't very tantalizing when frozen for a long time." He explained walking through the widened entrance, his pixie boots crunching on the glass as the brunette briskly followed close behind. Arthur stayed outside and sensed for any nearby werecats.

"Right, so what's the plan for that?"

"There's some rope in one of these isles. Start with them." He replied, kicking open a door that led to the office. As the blonde turned the place upside down looking for the key, he backtracked and looked through the utility section for some rope.

Meanwhile, the Noxian outside had climbed back into the truck as he sensed two beings headed this way. He crawled into the back and laid there, tightly gripping his favorite pillow.

' _Please hurry up, they're coming_!' He thought in fear.


	6. Now it gets hairy, two-fold

'Jeez, what kind of rope would you need to wrap around a bunch of fish?' Ezain thought in annoyance as he looked through the isle where the ropes hung, in different sizes, colors, and variations. As he looked, a thought came to mind. And it said: How the hell can you tie down a pile of thawing fish with rope?

Now that he thought about it, how could they anyway? And besides, the employees here wouldn't just throw a bunch of fish they caught into a freezer without at least wrapping them up together. Perhaps a net could be of use, but what would that matter if they thaw and loosen the tie? Or better yet scatter and become a chore to piece them back together

The brunette shook his head and scoffed. Maybe the bastard thought it would help but it just didn't seem necessary. He stepped from the area towards the back where the blonde pointed a pink half-transparent Spas 12 towards the lock on the door that lead to the meat freezer.

"Yo!" He called, waving his right hand, which was starting to crack at the wrist.

Ryuken looked towards him, "What?"

"The frozen fish in there are wrapped in nets, right?"

"Yeah?"

"Then why would we need ropes to tie it down?" His voice wavered slightly as he began to feel a headache coming on.

"I dunno, I just thought it'd be a great idea or something." He shrugged in response. Before he could say more, he aimed and fired. The chain on the lock blew apart and dropped to the ground with the mangled padlock. He grabbed the handle and pulled the door open, grunting with effort as the metallic entry was thick. Once he got it halfway open, the cold air blew out and hit his pale skin, causing him to shiver.

He motioned for Ezain to come over. He gets there and placed both hands on the other side to help out, grunting softly at the cold wind hitting him all over and the icy sensation on his palms. The task wasn't very easy, since the pounding in his head almost made him stumble. But they manage to get it open, with the brunette shivering the entire time while the blonde didn't appear to mind. In there, wide rows of cleanly cut fish and venison entrapped in plastic hung from clean hooks. Apparently, fishing wasn't the only thing these guys did around here. 

"You keep this door open, I'll go in and look around," Ryuken said as he took a step in.

"Y-yeah, s-sure. J-just try not to freeze halfway in." He retorted shakily from the cold. The blonde scoffed and went in, planting both hands in his pockets. As he watched him go inside the huge icebox, his ears twitch to the distant sound of...howling?

What? Since when did werecats howl? And how can he hear it so clearly from where he was at? 

As if that wasn't weird enough, he even felt a strong need to do the same. But he bit his lip to keep from doing it. He winced slightly from how sharper than usual his teeth were from doing that. He drew back with a small 'ow' and gazed towards the mirror he didn't realize was there and his eyes dilated. There was an extra pair of ears growing out of his hair and his canines were enlonged and sharp.

Meanwhile, Arthur laid in the backseat of his truck outside, trying to make himself scarce from view of the shattered window while keeping quiet. However, the bits of glass sprinkled on the seat made hiding almost difficult, as the jagged bits poked at him beneath his shirt and coat. He shuffled up, making as little noise as possible, and swatted the pieces to the ground, grimacing at the mess.

When this is over, he's either cleaning this up and getting a new window, or he's getting a new vehicle. Which would suck because he worked hard on customizing this current one.

He swept the rest of the hazard from the seat, feeling a small sense of accomplishment when he heard large soft footsteps pad closer. He clamped a hand over his mouth to stifle his surprised gasp and dove down, making sure none of him was visible. When the footsteps got louder, to where he could see the silhouettes pass beside him.

He peeked out, watching them come by. Upon closer inspection, he saw that one of them was muscular, had dark purple fur, and wore an olive beret, along with tattered clothing (Ryder). The other on the right was half as built, had sky blue fur, and a sailor hat (Nube Pelliccia).

his hand kept still over his mouth, keeping his heavy breathing silent as to not alert them. When they passed by the truck, he took his hand down and unconsciously let loose a sigh of relief, which made the blue were-feline stop and sniff the air while the other paused in its footsteps.

He 'eeped' silently and dove back down, hands on the back of his head. The female creature turned towards the pink truck, purring with curiosity, and trode towards it. It went to the shattered window and looked in through it.

As it looked for the source of the sound, the pinkette had retreated down to the floor, both hands shut around his mouth, praying silently for the beast to go away. It gave a low snort and continued on into the entrance of the building, stepping carefully over the glass. The lesser-built cat meowed and went away, joining it.

* * *

"Damn, this place is bigger than I thought," Ryuken muttered to himself as he looked around the spacious vast of frosted cold cuts and cut fish while he ventured deeper inside. The low temperature from when he stepped inside didn't faze him too much now that he had some of his brother's powers at his disposal. But it wasn't so useful the farther he went in. His fingers began to feel numb and he felt the semi-hardening of his blood begin to slow him down, so he attempted growing fur in some places on his body, making sure not to transform completely. It was easy enough but he felt a bit more muscular than he was comfortable being.

He looked to the left, gazing upon a pile of net bags containing skinned fish, and gave them a disapproving look. Cut fish wouldn't do it, he needed fresh ones, recent captures, that sort of stuff. Cats love them like that.

He looked to the right and beamed.

_Jackpot_

There, next to a freezer, sat a pile of four medium-large bags of fish next to several more on the other side. And from their slowly frosting over scales, they looked pretty fresh. He sauntered over and started grabbing as much as he could. He had two under his arms and two in both hands.

"Oi, Legs!" He shouted proudly, swinging the two bags over his head with one hand. The brunette, who was busy rubbing his extra pair of (sensitive) ears down into his head, whipped his head towards the blonde waving at him, carrying a netted bag of sardines.

"You found em?" He asked incredulously, a bit taken back by his sudden outburst.

"No duh, now hurry up and help me get the rest!"

"Oh wait, who's gonna hold the door open?"

Ryuken came up and plopped the loot next to him, "Use those to prop it open."

Standing straight, Ezain goes in, not shivering as much, and bent down, picking up a few bags. He winced at the frigid feel against his fingers, but pushed past it and dragged them with him to the door as the blonde went back for more.

The purple werecat stalked his way across the shop, looking around with a gaze of intent in its yellow eyes. The other one comes along shortly, as soon as it confirmed there was nobody in the truck outside. As they make a beeline through a section with fishing hooks, one of them lifted their nose in the air, sniffing.

The blue werecat eyed it in confusion before the familiar scent hit its nostrils as well. They mewl in curiosity and follow the invisible trail of where the scent came from. As they get closer, it grew stronger and thicker. Their careful strides turn into jogging the closer they got.

"There. I think that's all of it." Ryuken huffed as the patches of fur he grew evaporated beneath his skin.

Both men had gotten all 16 of the bags of fish from the freezer, which took some time but not a whole lot, and piled them on the floor behind the counter. The brunette sighed and shoved the big door close with his foot and came back upfront. "Yeah, and about time too, because I was sure my hands were about to fall off from frostbite sooner or later."

"Heh, if they did for real, I could at least glue 'em back on." The blonde snarked with a grim.

He felt a little offended at that remark but smirked nonetheless. The guy's a dick most of the time, but at least he's worthwhile. Sometimes.

But for now, they need to figure how to take all sixteen large bags of fish to the truck as fast as possible before they get jumped.

Ezain scratched his head, which made the cat ears twitch. They got the fish, now what?

"So..."

"So what?"

He nodded towards the thawing pile.

"Oh. Just take four at a time to the truck, if you can manage tha-"

He heard the pounding of paws on linoleum too late before a large force slammed into his chest, knocking the wind out of him.

"Whoa!"

The brunette yelped in shock as he witnessed a burly, light blue, feline tackle Ryuken to the ground in front of him and sit on his chest. He took a step forward but stopped, he recognized that sailor hat from anywhere, and those impressive-sized mounds from underneath the thick coat on its chest.

"Nube?" He murmured.

The werecat met his shocked gaze with a feral but curious look. He looked into its black and orange eyes like he was hypnotized. He couldn't help but let his eyes wander down its fluffy and burly physique to its thick tail that swished gently. Soft red spreads across his face as he checked out the way she sat on his chest.

Sure, Nube's a werecat now, but if he could be honest, she looked kinda hot like this. I mean, if she wasn't already this deliciously curvaceous and thick.

"Z-zans," Ryuken choked out, "The hell are you waiting for? Get this pile of fur and death off me!"

His forced words snapped him out of his daydreaming and dashed forward, sending his right foot sailing towards the feminine beast, who jumped to the side at the last second. He let his leg carry his foot through thin air and did a jump-spin, his right foot coming in, slamming the heel directly into the back of Nube's head as she landed a few feet from the blonde and in front of the pile of fish.

The impact sounded off like a bat to the skull. The feral feline's head snapped forward, taking her body with it to the ground away from the pile. He landed down on the ground and rushed to the blonde's side.

"You ok, man?"

"Yeah, took me by surprise," Ryuken grunted softly as he picked himself up and dusted off. "That kick was pretty cool too. Like, she thought you missed, but you really didn't."

Ezain shrugged, "I never do."

Just then, a roar sounded off. The blonde looked over, another werecat stood before them. He raised an eyebrow, he knew that beret from anywhere. The man next to him tensed, he knew him as well. "Is that...?"

"Ryder." That was all Ryuken said before he stomped around the counter and took off towards the mass of muscles and fur in a run. "H-hey, Ryuken, wait!" He called, but it was too late. 

He rammed his shoulder into the feline's chest once he got close enough. The force of his ram forced it to stagger. He jumped back and threw a haymaker that hit home at its jaw. Before he could do more, the beast countered by ramming its clenched paw directly into his stomach.

He groaned, coughing up spittle and blood as the blow sent him flying into a bin that held cans of food. "Shit!" The brunette cursed silently.

The large purple monster ran forward, its claws brandished to sink into the human when he suddenly shot up and leaped at the beast charging, his foot launching upward, catching it by the chin, knocking it back an inch. He landed, both eyes violet, and zipped forward, laying into the monster with fierce swings and medium-high kicks, all while shouting as ferally as the feline.

The were-feline could barely defend itself at the rabid man wailed on him. He roared and grabbed a handful of fur and lifted. Arthur ran into the store and blanched. He, alongside Ezain, at the other side, witnessed in astonishment at this guy holding up something that was twice his weight. The brunette very casually reaches down and pinched his side a few times while keeping his gaze on Nube, who was still unconscious. The pinkette just stood there, his jaw agape.

The blonde, with a shout, threw Ryder into the fishing rod isle against the boxed side, knocking it down into another aisle. Without missing a beat, he rushed towards the downed monster and just laid into him with numerous haymakers. Hitting his face, his chest, his groin even, not stopping.

The beast's fierce snarls and roars quickly turned to yowls and pained yelps. But Ryuken didn't care, he kept swinging, his fists growing bloodier and paler in color before it stopped. The purple beast held his fist in a tight grip, he wearily stood up. His nose and maw dripping with blood that soaked into his fur, his torso and such bruised and scraped, and his fur messy. Despite the blonde now kicking at him, he swung him with a great force into the other side of the aisle, knocking it down into another as well.

The sick pop that echoed in the air forced Ezain's body into motion. He careened over the counter and at the monster holding the blonde up, looking ready to slam him into the ground again. He kicked his feet out, launching him forward, closing the last distance between him and the monster, sending his foot sailing into the side of its head.

Artur squeaked, the sheer sound of the impact vibrated throughout the area like a shockwave through him, making him flinch. He could almost feel it.

'That's gonna leave a mark...' He thought amazed as the kick leveled the werecat.

Ryuken stared wide-eyed at the abnormal human standing victorious over the seemingly unconscious bastard, mouthing a 'wow'. He tried sitting up but hissed. It didn't take him long to figure out his right arm had been pulled from the socket. He clambered up to his feet and pressed his disjointed arm to his shoulder as hard as he could.

Turning back, Ezain humphed with a proud grin, "I guess that makes double, huh?"

With a pop, he reconnected his arm with his shoulder, "Tch, whatever," He mumbled, rolling his arm around to make sure it was firmly connected, "Thanks anyway."

Wordlessly, they make their back to behind the counter to take up the bags of fish. As the brunette picks up another bag, he noticed the Noxian standing there, frozen. "Hey! You gonna help or what?"

The loud voice snapped him back to reality. "O-oh! Coming right over!"


	7. Out of nowhere

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just when the first part of their plan was complete, the downed werecat strikes back with a vengeance, taking the trio off guard. But, just as Ezain regains consciousness and witnesses Ryuken in peril, something deep within him awakens...

Nothing. That was all he felt- could still feel, yet he doesn't the slightest bit cold, but still warm. So he's still alive, good. His brain felt heavy in his skull, weighing it down like it suddenly turned into a bowling ball or something, and it was spouting off endless amounts of urgent messages that became jumbled and warped, sounding almost alien.

Everything else was black and void. It was all he could see until his eyelids slowly opened up, the darkness spread and consumed by the white that became his sight. But everything was blurred once he opened them all the way, after some effort. It was all blurry, too blurry, all he could make out was some light flashing over him.

" _...ain_!"

He blinked once, twice, it was the first sound he's heard ever since he opened his eyes and it sounded faint. Something, or someone, had said- no- shouted something, but towards where? And to who? And where did that noise come from? He couldn't be very sure himself.

" _Eza_...!"

There it was again, but it sounded a little clearer and almost like a whisper. But where did it come from? His vision was starting to clear up, but he could barely think with this splitting headache.

" _...Zain! G...up.._."

That noise sounded clearer and...a bit urgent. Not just that, but it appeared to be coming from...the left? He tried lifting himself up but felt only a faint pulse in his arms. He tried again with his neck but couldn't see much of anything. 

" **Ez...ain**!"

That noise didn't sound alien anymore, but rather...a voice. His sense of feeling had slowly reactivated, meaning his first sensation was on his head, all the way down to his chin it felt like. 

" _Get up..._ "

It felt tacky and dry, he couldn't quite get the texture, but it was wet, and it oozed down the side of his face. His brain functions and he can now feel his head panging, but he doesn't understand how or why. Then, he feels- no, hears something crackle, and his eye twitches, and half of his vision warps and sharpens. He shook his head, even though it stung, feeling crumbs or pebbles roll down his face. The strange liquid now redirecting course over it let him know it was blood. 

"Ezain, get up..."

The voice sounded distressed and panicked, but he couldn't discern who it was. So he tries pushing himself up on one arm whereas the other felt numb, and sore somehow. He blinked a few times, his vision finally clearing up as he gazed towards the source of the voice that called probably towards. What was it calling him? Ezain? Was that his name? His head hurts.

"Ryuken! That monster's about to murder him!"

Then it hits him all at once.

Just then, Ezain was carrying the last few bags outside of the building when he was suddenly yanked back inside and was launched into the air, and punched into the nearest wall. There wasn't much of that to remember correctly as the blow itself knocked him unconscious before the impact of the wall.

He couldn't tell how long it had been after that, but it felt like hours had passed when it was only two minutes. And the voice calling- well, screaming to him to get up belonged to someone with pink hair- Arthur Love- that stood a few meters from what he just said.

The migraine coming on muffled them, but there were a couple that he caught.

**Ryuken- monster- about to murder him**

His unaffected eye moved to the right, and his pupil dilated.

There was that amethyst-furred werecat again, and its bloody claws were slicing into what was Ryuken, who trembled and twitched beneath each blow that carved deeper gashes into his shredded flesh and clothing. It stopped and grabbed him by the neck and hoisted him up with little to no effort and right before the brunette's eyes, sank its teeth into his neck.

The pained, feral roar that came from that moment was either his own or the blonde's or Arthur's, He couldn't tell which in time, as he saw red right after.

* * *

Ryuken choked and gargled as he tried but failed to dislodge the monster's ironclad grip as his razor fangs deep right through the tendons and multiple veins in his neck like butter. It wouldn't be nearly enough to kill him, but the pain was excruciating and never ending. The intense bleeding afterward would, and rather quickly.

The Noxian stood meters away, frozen, not budging an inch, yet his brain screamed at him to try to rescue the blonde or move, or something! But he just couldn't. All he could do was stand and watch in horror before his legs made the move to dive behind the nearest thing in sight.

The blonde attempted manifesting a weapon to try and shoot the bastard into releasing him, but he almost forgot that both his arms were rendered almost useless in the scuffle from the ambush earlier. He uttered a gargled scream as he felt its jaws teeth at something and pull.

But then, he saw something sail out of nowhere, and instantly, the absence of fangs deep in his neck. Without the beast holding him in the air, he fell down into the puddle of his own blood, groaning silently. 

_What just happened?_

Surely that black dot getting up wasn't Ezain, he turned just in time to see the staggering feline punt him headfirst into the concrete fall. It could have- would have killed him, or almost at least.

He grimaced as he saw drops of his own blood drip from his head onto the huge puddle. He tried to push himself up to his knees but he might as well as tried so without his hands, which were slowly gaining their functionality. 

No human alive could shed this much blood and still move, much less live, especially with these wounds. Ryuken couldn't die from the gashes alone, but from the profuse bleeding and exhaustion, not to mention the messy hole in his neck, he possibly could. Hell, he couldn't even try to absorb the immense puddle that belonged to him, and the deep slashes he had took more effort than he had right now. Which meant he was actually going to die, and it scared him.

So now, all he can do now is watch the phenomenon before him and focus on not losing consciousness.

The oversized kitten that was formerly Ryder sat crouched from where he got kicked into, snarling at the upright Ezain, who snarled back as. The blonde could make out bits of fur poking from his shirt from where he was. He knew what was happening to him the moment he heard him make those little noises earlier but didn't say anything about it, even when he noticed that extra pair of ears on his head. 

The brunette stood there, the blood running down his face dried and flaking off. The gash from where it came cracked with bits of fur sticking out. His left pupil in his glowing eye a slit, a fine chunk of flesh around it cracking and falling off, the thin crack from the bottom of it lead to his jaw, where his sharpening canines were bared as he stared down the beast in front of him.

It stood shakily, towering over him, and leaned in, growling right in his face. Ezain twitched and, to Ryuken's surprise, rammed his fist into its chest with the force of a sledgehammer. It snarled and staggered back, but he wasted no time in zipping to the side and swinging his foot directly into its side before it could recover, sending him falling right into a stack of base rods.

It wasn't the punch that he'd never do, courtesy to his name, that shocked him, but his newfound strength. That kick could have barely faze the beast at first, but now it sent him flying like a football (a big furry one). He finally gathered the strength to push himself up to his knees, his mouth still wide open in surprise as he stared bug-eyed at the brunette, who only took two steps before doubling over on all fours.

Meanwhile, Arthur had finally gotten the courage to peak from behind the counter after diving behind it when he heard a loud crack and the clattering of items repeat two times. Right after The first thing he saw was the crater and the absence of a body, Ryuken sitting upright, ogling at Ezain clutching his head, and the muscular werecat slowly getting back up again.

"Wha-what's going on?" He said, utterly confused and freaked out. His eyes shift from the still-breathing blonde to the human on the ground, whose skin was cracking and evaporating...

Wait.

His heart sank. There was simply no way this guy is- no, it couldn't be. He couldn't actually be turning, right? Perhaps the humongous headache had finally gotten to him or something. But wait, how could he have simply gotten up from the wreckage like it was nothing... When he was thrown into it headfirst?!?!

And all of that fluffy brown all over his arm- bits of it growing from the side of his head- his eye- those extra set of ears... no no no nonononono...!

"No. Oh God, no..."

Yep, the process.

* * *

Ezain groaned as the phantom pain jolted across his entire being. The cracks from his elbow on his transforming arm spread through his upper arm to his shoulder, his breaking skin splintering and falling off. The open cracks on his face gradually spread and began to let off smoke along with his entire being. He tried to upright himself but the painful jolt across his chest and midsection forced him back down again.

He crookedly turned his head towards the blonde, his mismatched eyes messaging to his wide ones to help him out. He went as far as to open his mouth to speak, but his words sounded choked and garbled.

"D-on- don't ju-eugh- st-stan-and t-there, hgh- hel-help- gych!" It didn't occur to him right away that his elongated teeth and coarse tongue were the cause for his broken speech. He couldn't get out another word when the numbing pain reached his legs. A strangled shout echoed throughout the store, rousing an unconscious werecat he knocked out earlier.

The were-feline was up now, but stayed still as he too gazed upon the brunette's transformation, its head cocked to one side in curiosity.

Gasping for air, Ezain fell to his side, gripping his warping legs like he's experiencing the worst cramp known to man. Just what in the hell was going on?! One moment, he was witnessing Ryuken about to be eaten/ripped apart, the next, he was on his knees in severe pain. And he was there, just staring at him with that intrigued expression. He managed through the pain to attempt glaring at him before he blacked out again.

"Ken! Get away from him!" 

The blonde could do no such thing, he was too busy witnessing a new transformation to turn to the Noxian's distressed voice. He knew this would happen sooner or later, but for some reason, he just couldn't believe his eyes right now. He might've just underestimated the kicker's tenacity and strength.

_Snap! Crack!_

The brunette's back arched and became crooked as he shrieked in a high-pitched voice for seven whole seconds, causing everyone in there to wince and cover their ears, even the werecat. The sky blue feline was up and running towards the source of the sound in a panicked matter, its mass shrinking and becoming more feminine than before.

The bump at the seat of Ezain's pants expands and widens before it popped, a thin, but bushy tail sprouting from it as he now twitched and went limp. 

The not-so feral cat rounded the isle corner to see a man on his knees in a large puddle that he was slowly absorbing, a figure coated in smoke spasming and twitching, a trembling man in pink behind a counter, and a large purple-furred beast standing a few meters to her left.

A split-second later, a blur of brown sped past her into the beast.

From there, it was a mass of fur, fangs, claws, and such clawing and biting into each other. The fiercely brawling duo crashed and slammed against anything they were close to.

Arthur squeaked when the wrestling duo were fighting towards his way and quickly snatched up the discarded bags of fish that were miraculously untouched and bolted for his truck outside while the blonde, now barely standing up, watched the battle unfold, his expression of amazement and shock.

"Whoa, kitty fight." He murmured as his blood stitched the last claw mark shut, the purplish liquid morphing into flesh, replacing the previously damaged tissue. As he watched both werecats brawl, he noticed something from the corner of his eye and turned. "Hmm?"

He turned to face what was formerly a feral cat, but a petite cat wearing a sailor hat that flinched when his eyes lay on her. Nube Pelliccia. Her confused- but scared orange pupils dart from the blood-soaked human to the pair rolling around on the floor, laying into each other. 

When she had regained consciousness earlier, her first thought was of what had just happened. The last thing she could remember before waking up here was watering her plants out in her backyard in the discolored moon's light when she was suddenly pounced upon by something big, furry, and green, and feeling a pair of fangs sink into her arm before the horrid transmission. After that, she couldn't keep herself from doing the same to her pet cat, Flower, before she blacked out...

...and ended up here in some fishing supermarket. How she came down from her bestial form, she doesn't know in the slightest, but those pained wails... who made them? Could it be-

"Oi, get down!"

The blonde dashed towards the feline and wrapped his arms around her, bringing the both of them to the ground just as the purple werecat flew by.

Nube yowled in shock as she was suddenly tackled to the ground by the human. His head was buried right into her chest as they laid there in a rather awkward position. She blushed deeply and wormed out of his grip right as he appeared to be inching down and scooted away. He sat up, wincing from the tender areas that were just healed.

"You're welcome."

Her timidness gone, she shot a glare at him, her arms crossed. "Whatever, pervertito." She spat.

Rolling his eyes, he gets up, strides carefully to the rack, and looked around the corner towards the now unconscious beast, who looked even worse for wear than before. Bite and claw marks littered its entire form and a section of fur and skin ripped from its chest, blood oozing from the wound. Upon closer inspection, its maw and nose leaked blood, one of its eyes blackened and raw, and a sizeable gash in its forehead.

Ryuken willed down a shiver when his eye caught a small stream of red dripping from one of its ears, with half of the other bitten off and bleeding.

_He's not getting up anymore_

He looked down to his legs, almost tempted to shoot both its kneecaps for good measure before his gaze went to Ezain, who was now not just a cat, but a werecat. He retained his slim figure while it was more muscular, he was half a foot taller than before, his syrup-colored pelt shining in the lights of the store, his clothes ripped and hanging from his burly form like rags on a withering corpse, and his tail flickering slightly behind him. On the plus side, he still has that Korean-style haircut, which is nappy.

Any witty words that were built up in the blonde's throat died down as he stared at the stationary feline in growing attraction. To be perfectly honest, he never really saw Ezain anymore besides an ally/rival, whereas Mike Df was likable. The stupid-but-sincere kind of likable that slowly turned to lovable as they got to spend more time together over the years.

And besides, he's had quite a spell cast on him that makes him drool when it comes to seeing ripped bods, especially furry ones. This guy right here had both in one sitting. It didn't bother him too much that it was still Ezain, but he just couldn't take his eyes off those biceps, those pecs, and that perfect six-pack. His size didn't measure up completely to King Nacho's, but it came close.

The huge cat's stoic expression was now one of confusion as it- he met the blonde's prolonged gaze. Why is this human staring at him like that? He drooled open-mouthed from the tongue, his hot pink eyes held a look of attraction and lust, and this other feline was beside him, tapping on his shoulder.


	8. Back to Blue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They set out for their final destination, but the now werecat Ezain needs one more thing. Bruno Blues.

"Hellooo! Earth to blonde dumbass!" Nube waved her paw in front of Ryuken's face, which was frozen in admiration at the larger brown feline striding towards them.

He didn't even appear to pay attention to the cat's words or the Werefeline Ezain coming towards him, far too absorbed in its physique and the numerous fantasies of the two of them in his imagination. She sighed and grabbed both sides of his face and pulled him into a kiss. The daydreaming blonde snapped out of it by melting into the kiss a few seconds before Nube pulled away, blushing hard.

"Whoa..."

"He doesn't appear to be attacking us right now. Is he your friend" She said, turning his head to the werecat leaning with its arms crossed against an isle, a stoic look on its face.

He looked far-out, but he came to his senses. He brushed her paws off his face and strode close quarters to the once brunette and eyed him up and down. Messy hairstyle, black eyes and white pupils, sharp teeth, chiseled chest beneath that shining brunette fur, and an impressive pair of paws. He blinked and looked back up to the beast now eyeing him, looking quite weirded-out.

"I must say, I dig the look there, Zans. Think you can fit in the back with clouds here?" He said, pointing to Nube adjusting her hat.

"Mrow?" Ezain's only response. He's gained complete control over this form, which was hinted at by his hesitance to attack them but he isn't capable of speech yet. At least he can understand what he's trying to say.

"Yeah, her." He shrugged.

He hissed and trilled as he pointed to her, a faint crimson blush creasing his cheeks. The blonde nodded and shrugged again.

"I'm just as shocked as you, man," He said, scratching off a bit of crusted blood from his wrist. "All I saw of her was when she performed that oh-so-well-done tackle on me and almost knocked me out. I dunno how she's back to normal but Flamingo-boy might tell us on the way."

As the werecat made more noises, with Nube watched in confusion, they were unaware of the purple werecat was starting to shrink and its fur melt away. All until only a violet-haired man in just a torn camouflage pants remained beyond the trio's notice.

"Dude, you were checkin' her out while she sat there crushing my ribs. It's obvious you've got a crush on her. It makes total sense to put you lovercats in the back." The blonde grinned knowingly, nudging his elbow against the flustering feline's chest, who pouted at him.

How can he understand him? Ezain's just hissing in his face, and this cazzone's acting like he knows what he's saying. Nube's eyes narrow as he turned around to face her- and looks down at her paws, his eyes showing that familiar glint of carnal interest. She swears she's gonna either claw his eyes out or kick him in the face when he quickly looks back up at her with a sheepish look.

"Oh, sorry. Uh, do you wanna tag along or something?"

She crossed her arms and faced away from him with a stuck-up 'hmph', "What for? I can get home just fine."

"Well, uh, you could, But the neighborhood you live in is chock-a-block with werecats."

"Yes! I can handle myself." She responded, her voice louder than necessary. She knew having the power to simply electrocute people by conjuring small clouds wouldn't do much against a pack of ripped vicious felines, but it wouldn't do for her to sound weak in the presence of a man like this. For all she knew, he might even gain an advantage on that someday if he gets the drop on her. Bastardo. "Plus, how can you even understand what he's saying?"

The blonde scratched the back of his head in thought. Ezain took the awkward moment to excuse himself to the truck with an anxious meow and took off in a jog. He was about to call for him to watch the glass on the floor but held his tongue on it when he leaped over it.

"Ugh, I have no idea, but whenever something comes out of his mouth, I receive it in English." He taps his ear with a cocky grin, "Perks of a cat guy."

"Weirdo." She scoffed, walking off towards the broken door. He rolled his eyes and followed behind, but not before taking a quick glance behind him. He froze. Instead of a soundly napping beast of a cat in camo pants, it was a battered and bruised man in camo pants.

Ryder too? What the hell? How did he... Eh, he could care less. Shaking himself, he quickly dismissed it and went out, the splintered glass crinkling beneath his boots towards the truck. There, Arthur was twirling around what appeared to be a laser pointer, with both cats scrambling after the source in excitement.

"They were getting quite curious about the load in the back." He spoke in an amused tone when he noticed the blonde come up.

"Pfft, no shit." He shrugged. 

After the short kitten play was over, both Ezain and Nube climb into the back, which took some effort, as the werecat was two feet taller than he originally was, but the truck had plenty of space still, but horizontal-wise. Ryuken and Arthur went after them and they take off back towards where they came from.

As they all venture down the road, the pinkette's gaze never left the once brunette. When he had stepped outside to watch the load of fish, he noticed a dark figure leap out and immediately freaked, but calmed when the creature had revealed itself to be Ezain. He thought he was screwed, but surprise, he wasn't. He didn't attack him, but he did nuzzle into him, which was super sweet. He found out he was somehow in complete control of his new self, which was what Nube told him, albeit sounding unsure of the circumstances.

He turned towards the blonde driving and felt the small discolored area on his jaw give a faint pulse. his gaze on the road was focused and unrelenting, like a red dot on the head of a target. It wasn't just the man's looks and style that put him under a spell, but those eyes. Two golden irised pupils swimming in a mass of white that transfer to any shade of pink and purple on will, it just, just- just makes his heart flutter. He couldn't help but ogle at him and those special eyes of his whenever he saw him.

Although it wasn't just his entire being, it was his brash and fierce personality beneath his gothic posture. Sure, he may be careful with what he does when around him after what happened, but he couldn't resist riling the guy up from time to time. He loved to see him express that fierceness openly, show his true self to him. Well, more verbally than physically.

He stared love-eyed at Ryuken, lost in his own thoughts before he spoke.

"Say, Ryu..."

The blonde gave a small hum in question.

"I've been thinking of something. You know, when all of this is done with, maybe you and I would like to uh..."

"Not happening." He suddenly stated bluntly, not looking at him.

The Noxian chuckled softly, "But you didn't let me finish. I was wondering if you'd like to come up to Planet Nox with me sometime. If it's in your interest."

His eyes finally turn to the pinkette, an eyebrow raised. "Won't they send you back down here? I thought you said your people up there didn't take kindly to supers."

"They've kind of went tame on that just recently. The new council said Noxians born supers can stay so long as they are reached to control and harness their powers." He responded nonchalantly. "I sometimes go up there to visit my folks."

"Cool, I guess." Was the blonde's meek reply before his eyes widen and he pushed down on the brakes, halting the vehicle. Arthur was about to ask what was wrong before he followed his gaze, along with the two cats in the back, and his heart skipped a beat.

"Oddio..." Nube murmured in shock.

The Indigo Ingots territory was a complete mess. There laid strewn across the entire neighborhood were corpses, both human and werecat. Several of them halfway turned and mangled. Their innards ripped out and their limbs twisted and turned in uncanny directions.

Some of the werecat corpses were the same way, what with their stomachs blown open and their heads caved in.

"Jesus, what a warzone." The Noxian whispered in awe. The sheer brutality done here was unreal, and it sickened him. Just like the history of his planet. He swallowed down his dinner before he lost it, holding down the urge to do so. Ezain growled and leaned up to the seat where Ryuken sat, meowing and hissing silently.

The brown cat's distorted noises got the attention of Arthur who looked towards the blonde nodding softly.

Perplexed, "Er, what's he saying?" The blonde grabbed the wheel firmly and stepped on the gas pedal and turned down the road.

"We need to find Bruno."

"I'm sorry?" He said, gazing at the determined man like he was crazy, which he certainly was. Since when was diving down into a bloody warzone a part of the plan? Surely, there wasn't anyone still alive here, was there? "You need to what?!"

He doesn't respond but instead checked around the devastated area, scanning for any signs of survivors and/or any werecats still around. His eye narrowed when he recognized that some of the bodies were the Lemonade Grenade members. They must have come by to try an assassination but were blindsided by what happened.

His focused demeanor regressed bit-by-bit as he went deeper into the neighborhood, the condition of each corpse worsened up to where there was one body in blue that laid halfway out of a shattered window of a house. He cringed and fought down a shudder when its upper half squelched and fell down onto a bush, remaining connected by its intestines. The sight almost made Nube cough up her lunch all over Ezain's lap when he leaned out the window to do the same.

When they arrived at the end of the cul de sac, where a couple of werecats lay burnt and riddled with bullet holes, Ryuken parks the truck at a curve in front of another corpse who lacked half of his face, and the feline steps out, with the human close behind. They start towards the house where the leader would have been in. 

"Stay." He ordered, pointing to the two still in the truck before pointing to Nube in the back, "And make sure she doesn't get at the load in the back."

The pinkette nodded and gave the thumbs up.

He turned back to the tall cat, "Ikou." He nodded and they both walk up to the blue door. The blonde knocked two times, waiting for an answer. Ezain gave him a look and stepped forward, kicking the door open. Instead of it banging against the wall once he did, it broke off of its hinges and flew back to the floor. The loud noise made them flinch, but they went inside nonetheless.

Taking a gander around, Ryuken couldn't help but whistle at the blue-versed scenery of the place while Ezain purred contently. The living room was well-kempt, despite a few of the furniture in there being overturned and broken. The couches flipped over were painted Caribbean with the cushions turquoise, the overturned coffee table a sweet pavement color, and the walls an ocean foam with a wavy/dot pattern. The blonde looked down to his feet to gawk at the glitter speckled carpet, that had a trail of red splattered on it.

His impressed demeanor turned back serious. They both follow the trail, from the living room leading off into the hallway. He motioned for the feline to trace the smell while he watched for unwelcome visitors.

They tread through the azure-walled hallway to the stairs with Ezain sniffing at the mostly dry blood trail on all fours with the blonde next to him, listening for anything out of the ordinary while wielding akimbo vectors. They stop in front of a pair of stairs where the trail of red went up the steps and stopped halfway up.

The buff feline crouched down and growled before taking off up the stairs and taking a sharp left when he reached the top. Ryuken was a bit surprised at the brunette's sudden move but thought nothing of it. After shaking himself from his stupor, he rolled his eyes and went up the steps after him.

**Bang**

And then a yowl. Ryuken hurried up the remaining steps and around the corner to where the terrified Ezain sat beside the open door, clutching the wall. He looked like he saw a ghost. He stepped slowly over to the door and looked at the smoking hole in the wall and back to the brunette cat, his weapons fading.

_Or shot at by one_

"What happened?" He whispered to him. The feline's ears droop and he meowed sadly in response.

_Bruno shot at me_

" Of course he would." He rolled his eyes. "Did you suddenly forget you were a walking ball of muscle and fur? He could've blown you away, Nōtarin." The brown cat looked down, muttering something he couldn't quite pick up on, but it sounded something like: 'I just wanted to see if he was alright.'

Looks like his voice box is kicking in.

"I know that, but you gotta be careful when talking to a maniac armed to the teeth." His tone softened a little.

"I can hear you out there, ya know!" A rough voice shouted from in the bathroom before it was wracked with coughing and gagging. He was alright, much to Ezain's relief, but he was also hurt. The blonde turned around the corner, stepping into the bathroom, where he saw none other than Bruno Blues sitting up against the wall between the toilet and the tub, clutching an M1 Garand painted an admiral blue. He stepped closer and got down on one knee.

His navy-dyed hair was disheveled and frantic, the lens of his glasses cracked and sprayed with speckles of red, his blue long-sleeved shirt ripped in places with half of it darkened by his own blood from the shoulder, and the open vest he wore missing. The thing that Ryuken noticed the most was the large, violet bite mark on his exposed shoulder.

"Jesus, dude." He breathed as he looked into the wrecked look of the once proud leader of the Indigo Ingots. From the carnage he saw outside, he held himself right to the rumor that they could handle themselves against a wave of stacked creatures. And he was sort of right, although the bodies outside were almost more thugs than werecats, but at least there was one still breathing.

"Y-yeah, I know. I've had worse nights than this." Bruno responded weakly, lowering his weapon. "Especially when those lemon-sucking scumbags pulled that trojan horse shit during a negotiation with the Salad Savages one night. The bastards responsible were the first to get a taste of their own medicine."

Ryuken chuckled at the memory. He didn't know too much of what happened because he had only seen the bigger ingots carry off a bounty of body bags that time. "Yeah, I've never seen you so pissed off that night."

The blue-haired man laughed with him as he coughed and scratched at his discolored neck, which was starting to crack and smolder. At that point, Ezain had stepped anxiously into the bathroom with the two humans, keeping his head down to the blonde's level so the bluenette wouldn't try to shoot him again.

He peeked out from behind him, mewling nervously as he waved at the wounded bluenette. He frowned and took hold of the gun resting in his hand. The blonde's smirk falters when he saw his eyes were looking over his shoulder.

"Could you move to the left some? It's still out there." He asked, cocking the weapon.

"I dunno about that, partner," Ryuken shook his head as he pointed behind him to the cowering feline. "That one behind me is Ezain. So just chill out there for a second and lower your weapon."

Bruno's hardened gaze on the trembling feline didn't soften, but he lowered his weapon, trusting his words. "Ezain? But how?"

"Long story." He stood up and left the bathroom, passing by the feline that went to kneel down to the confused boss.

"I-is it really you, Ez?" He stated dryly.

He nodded and moved forward, nudging his head against his chin as he quickly entrapped him in a constricting, but warm hug as he lifted him up to his feet. Bruno gave a coughing chuckle as he pat the cat's back and rubbed circles around it. The passive werecat nuzzled into his chest as he purred to the touch. He'll take that as a yes.

"How's it going, man? How'd this even happen to you?"

The feline looked up with a warm grin, "Like Ryuken said, it's a long story, but I'll tell you on the way." He spoke in a gruff, but soft voice. It visibly shocked the bluenette to see his friend like this, especially since he wasn't gnawing on him right now, like the last furball that snuck upon him while he dragged a fellow Ingot to safety.

The memory of fighting the monster's grip loose, the near-fatal wound, and then profuse bleeding made the discolored area on his neck itch. He had apparently been on edge ever since he no longer heard the echoing gunshots and roars.

When he saw a cinnamon-furred one waltz through the door, he immediately opened fire and the motherfucker zipped out of the way just in time. It never occurred to him it was actually his friend underneath all that fur and it made him guilty that he had almost killed the guy that had his back the few times he was in a pinch.

Maybe this could be the time he could return the favor like he promised him many times.

Something wet dragged up his cheek, throwing him from his thoughts. He looked in surprise at the feline, that did it again, and chuckled, reaching up to ruffle his hair and scratch behind his ears before he felt a sharp twinge in the back of his neck.

He tapped the back of his neck once, not minding it before Ezain let him go.

"So you're coming with, then?" Ryuken asked as he leaned against the wall outside of the bathroom.

"Yep," Bruno replied, patting the feline on the back, and took a few steps before he suddenly fell to the ground.

"Blues!" Ezain shouted in distress as he rushed to the bluenette's side with the blonde on the right. "Come on man, stay with me! Ryu, help!"

"Aw damn." He cursed as he turned the twitching man over to see his face crumbling and morphing before his eyes. The man slapped his hand away and struggled to stand up, not paying attention to his surroundings.

"Grk- c-co-come on, le-let's go, guys- hnk! Th-this is n-nothing." He stuttered painfully as he limped towards the stairs and made it down only two steps before a sharp jolt of pain went off in his foot, causing him to tumble the rest of the way down, leaving a trail of evaporating skin behind. Ezain and Ryuken ran down to catch up to him once he stopped and clutched his stomach.

Before either of them could try and provide some help, Bruno let out what was a fusion between a roar and a scream of agony before the remaining bits of himself disappeared completely behind a burst of peacock-colored fur.


	9. Fight and death

Well, this is boring. Standing outside in a gang's territory next to a pink truck owned by an alien with tons of fishy goodness sitting in a pile in the back out in the pastel-hued night sky. If Nube could be honest, it wasn't really that big of a deal, considering she'd spend most of her nights staring out at the star-sprinkled atmosphere, doing nothing but letting the small clouds she conjured float around and mingle with one another while she gave affection to her pet cat.

She probably could have earlier if not for...this event. What with the strange pink moon, the muscular werecats epidemic, and the horrors they'd leave behind if push came to shove, it took her by surprise at first knowing about it from Arthur when she asked, but was relieved when he told her this entire mess wasn't eternal and that it'd die down by morning. 

But it didn't help that they would need to subdue all of them before they moved on to spread their fluffy carnage in the upper suburbs, where the stronger people lived. The plan on how was simple-minded, but effective, considering his powers were augmented as well. At an unsavory price.

She could've cared less if she didn't feel the urge to tag along herself, considering she would get bitten again, and that she'd have to walk all the way back home. She hadn't even begun working on using her clouds for transportation yet. So she was pretty much stumped.

The feline sighed, conjuring up a small cloud and bounced it around, watching it slowly float down as she laid down in the backseat of the truck behind Arthur, who was trying to get his left arm to function as he sat at the passenger side with the door open.

Not being one to revel in the silence, Nube poofed away the small cloud and sat up. "What's taking those two so long? Have they found that bastardo yet?" She asked, sounding quite annoyed at how long this rescue mission took. The smell of corpses was thick in her nostrils, and she felt she might suffocate if the whiff of decay accompanies it if those two don't hurry up.

The Noxian turned back, facing her. "I don't know, but for some reason, I've got a bad feeling about it." His brows furrowed in worry before he turned back, gazing upon the half-mansion that was the Ingots headquarters. "I really hope they get out of there soon."

* * *

Ryuken yelled as he was sent flying into a nearby wall from getting backfisted by the furry, hulking form that used to be Bruno Blues. Ezain rushed forward then dashed to the side, dodging a swing that shot towards him in a sharp ark and shot forward from there at the blue-furred beast, his leg swung out aimed for his side.

The were feline Bruno didn't have time to dodge as the attack landed square in his kidney, causing him to grunt and stagger back a few feet. The syrup-furred feline didn't stop there, he continued his assault, summoning a clone to help bring him down. 

Every kick from him and his clone aimed towards either his legs or his torso, the beast could do nothing except guard himself against the ruthless onslaught from the two. What he had in being stronger and an inch taller, he lacked in speed. He jumped back after Ezain had ceased for a moment, but his clone didn't know stamina, it had an infinite amount, unlike his creator. So it chased after Bruno, keeping up the assault, its legs slamming against his arms and torso with half the intensity the real Ezain had.

He growled, catching it by the leg, and flung it full force against the wall where the blonde had just now recovered, snapping his arm back into place from it being dislocated. He dived out the way right as the clone crashed into it and exploded in a cloud of white smoke that quickly evaporated. The brunette winced as he felt a sting on his cheek and rushed toward the beast that looked at the smoke in curiosity, not paying attention to the werecat flying at him until he turned to see a brown-furred cat flying at him with his knee reared back.

He didn't even flinch when it hit home at his jaw. As soon as the smaller feline landed, he lashed out and grabbed him by the neck and hoisted him up in the air, with him gagging and kicking at whatever mass of fur his legs could reach.

"Hrk- dammit!" Ezain cursed as he swung his paw up, catching the bigger werecat by the chin, making his grip on his neck loosen some. He did it again, but he was running out of breath, so he only just barely managed to tap his chin again. Bruno snarled, retightening his grip as his other paw struck out, hitting him in the solar plexus. The force of the strike knocked the wind from his lungs, making him wheeze and cough up blood. So now he hung helplessly in peril at the paws of his best friend, about to strangle him to death.

Which would've been his fate if not for Ryuken sneaking up behind him and stamping his foot down hard on the beast's thick tail with enough force to break the bones within it. He roared in pain as he immediately released the feline and whirled around to face the blonde smirking up at him. He snarled and swung at him with his razor-sharp claws and missed when he jumped back, chuckling now.

"Dō shimashita ka? Ningen wa anata no shippo o te ni iremashita ka? Come on." He beckoned with a hand. The blue were feline howled to the ceiling in fury and ran forward on all fours, kicking his paws out and launching himself at the blonde, clawed paws outstretched. He rolled his eyes and quickly slid to the side, watching him fly halfway down the hallway and skid to a stop. Without hesitation, he speed-walked over and rammed his foot directly in between his legs and grabbed his tail, dragging him closer after he tried to make a run for it. Then, in a swift motion, he raised an elbow and dived down on the beast, ramming it dead-center in its back before shooting back up to his feet.

The sound of a bone or two breaking along with an agonized screech was alien to him, as it had been a long time since he's heard anything close to that, but hearing it now made him crack a smile. The beast rolled around on the floor, meowing deeply in pain. Ryuken huffed and bent down, grabbing it by the scruff of its neck and lifted it with a small grunt.

His eyes glowed mauve as he held the feline up, who growled in his face, which only made him smirk as he raised a fist that gave off a faint glow.

"There's too much blue on you, Bruno. Maybe I could make some of it black if you like." He said as he turned and threw the furry monster into the other living room in front of the stairs. As he advanced slowly towards it, Ezain came in there with him, slightly gasping. A notable side effect from his solar plexus most likely bruised.

"W-wait," He wheezed, gripping his stomach. "I think you got him, don't overdo it." The blonde held the sapphire-furred beast down with his foot but didn't do any more than that as he eyed the brown cat with some relief.

"You alright there, man?" He asked, examining the way he held his stomach. "It's not too bad, is it?"

He nodded, coming closer. "Y-yeah, just a little out of breath is all." He looked down at Bruno, who growled as it tried to push itself up. Ryuken mashed his heel into its spine and it stopped struggling and just laid there, glaring up at the brown feline who looked back with eyes full of remorse before turning his gaze to the human.

"What do we do now? Put him to sleep until morning, or take him with us?" He asked as he hesitantly took his foot off of the beast. Ezain sighed.

"We'll put him in the back."

Ryuken raised an eyebrow, giving the brunette the 'for real?' look. "Seriously? We got bait cargo 'in the back', in case you haven't noticed." He replied, throwing up air quotes. "You and Nube could barely even keep from getting at it. Like hell he will, plus there's hardly any room in the truck for all four of us, considering how huge he is."

"Well, I'm not gonna leave him here." He countered. The possibilities of what could happen to the gang leader if any of the lemons came across him running through his head. The blonde frowned and pointed down to the werecat on the ground, whose eyes began to glow unbeknownst to them.

"So you want us to cram _this_ where the fish is?" He insinuated out loud. "I do suppose you've got a backup plan for when he gobbles up all the fish and totals our ride. Because I can imagine that happening no problem if we take him with." He paced around the living room, clapping his hands together.

"That's a wonderful idea, I love it! Bravo, bravo! Let's give our special thanks to Mr. Ideas right there!" He applauded to no one in particular while Ezain simply shook his head.

"Look, I understand how it's gonna go with him with us, but he's lost most of his crew and he'll most likely be killed if he stays here. He can't tell the survivors he's Bruno Blues if he's a six-foot walking adonis covered in fur." He bent down to pat the feline on the head as he went on. "It's safer if he comes with us. If he's in there underneath all of this, then he'd understand. Right, bud- **gah**!"

The werecat grabbed his ankle and sunk his claws into it and yanked him to the floor. He gaped, Bruno looked more ravenous than before. Its eyes glowed a vivid yellow, its hackles raised, showing the razor-sharp fangs, and its fur glowing a faint pink as it stood towering over him.

"Ah shit," Ryuken swore as he saw what happened and rushed forward to help. He leaped over the coffee table and threw a punch at the upright beast, catching him in the jaw. He hit it two more times before it retaliated by grabbing his neck before he could throw another punch. It held the squirming blonde like that as it went off from the living room down the hallway with him raining down blows upon blows. All of which didn't faze him.

_Where's he going with him?_

Ezain stood up on his wounded leg, biting back a yelp as he hobbled hastily after the pair. When he reached the living room where they came in from, he froze dead in his steps. There on the couch was Ryuken, pinned on the couch underneath the bloodied Bruno, who snapped at him but was held back by his forearm against his neck. The beast sat its full weight on his chest and had one of his arms pinned down on his stomach as his snapping mouth drew closer.

"Don't just stand there, you dumbass! Help!" He shouted, struggling to keep the werecat at bay. Snapping himself out of his stupor, Ezain stumbled forward and grabbed a handful of fur on its back, and pulled as hard as he could. Ryuken grunted and with the brunette's help, managed to push the monster back, which roared and slashed at the feline pulling on him across the chest.

He shouted out but kept pulling, his claws digging past the fur into its skin. The blonde down below had finally freed his other arm and started punching the beast in the side of his head as he gained more room. The werecat grabbed at him blindly, one of its paws finding purchase on his neck, and sunk its claws in past the skin. 

Blood flowed from the numerous incisions almost instantly as the blonde choked and gagged, his eyes turning a deeper purple as he started beating on the monster with both hands while Ezain tugged even harder, his heels pressed deep into the carpet, growling himself. By that point, he already had Bruno sitting up with one paw pulling on the human's throat. With a shout, the blonde took the wrist of the beast and snapped it backward, feeling the joints snap and bend, and the relief of not having those sharp nails poke at his jugular anymore.

The feral screech could be heard from outside, because Nube came rushing in with two dark medium-sized clouds floating next to her head on both sides, teeming with electricity, fearing the worst has happened to Ezain. 

She was all set to attack but held off on it as the pair fought off the huge cat that was flailing around its broken paw while grasping the blonde's arm with the other, whose hand was squeezing its throat.

The brown feline let go, at last, seeing as the blonde had it from there, and turned around to see the sky blue feline standing there poised to attack and blushed. Luckily, it was hidden by all this fur over him.

"Did you come to help?"

She placed a hand on her hip. "What does it look like? I heard screaming and assumed the worst."

"Oh." Before he said anything else, Nube suddenly squealed as the sound of a grunt and then a sickening crunch made his ears perk up. He spun around and his blood ran cold at what he saw.

Ryuken, bleeding and pissed off, had dragged Bruno to a nearby wall by the neck and was relentlessly smashing the back of his head against the wall. When he did again, the beast only twitched in response. He pulled it off, revealing a bloody smear and a crumbling dent. The blonde gave a feral grunt and slammed it against the wall again and again. By then Arthur had come in and gasped in horror upon discovering the scene

"O-oh my God! Dude, you got him! You got him, stop!" Ezain pleaded as he pulled futilely on the human's shirt after his body was forced into action. "Hey, Ryuken!"

He didn't give a response as he kept it up, smashing the deceased werecat's skull against the wall a few more times before it caved in from the pressure. He manifested a Deagle in his free hand and jammed it against its skull. Before he could pull the trigger, the feline slapped the weapon out of his hand that disappeared and spun him around, decking him across the cheek.

"Stop, dammit!"

The blonde just stood there, growling and staring down the feline that returned the look, ready to fight him if needed. But instead, he blinked twice and looked around, taking a step back. His now white eyes darted around, looking from the brunette that struck him, to the Noxian and the feline in the sailor hat staring at him with horrified expressions, and down to his hand, which held a clump of peacock-colored fur.

"What the...?" He trailed off as he looked down to the limp werecat in a pool of blood, the back of its bashed in head, and to the bloody busted in hole in the wall. He visibly flinched as he stepped out of the puddle and shook the clump of hair from his hand.

"What just happened?" He asked incredulously. One instant, he was just inches away from getting his face bitten off, the next, he was standing in a puddle of werecat viscera. Did it happen again?

Ezain sighed before he answered solemnly, "You went crazy and bashed Bruno's head in."

Ryuken ran a hand through his hair, looking at the body on the floor and back to the two standing across from him, and sighed heavily. "Man."

It wasn't very often that he'd get so worked up or be put in such a bad situation that he would end up blacking out for what felt like eternity and wake up with blood on his hands. It didn't just his methods of brutality that scared him, but the condition the victim would be in. He knew those two things shouldn't, but it was so sudden, and he never knew when the rage would take over.

He turned and walked towards the doorless opening, both Nube and Arthur stepping to the side on his way out. They followed behind shortly after, except for Ezain, who stayed behind to see Bruno one last time. He went and moved the cold corpse of what was formerly his friend up on the couch and placed its paws over its chest after snapping the other back into place. He gave the body one last hug, tears streaming down from his eyes, whispering his farewells before closing its eyes and walking out the door.

_"Yo, Blues." Ezain greeted as he shook hands with the Ingot ringleader on the pier they stood on._

_"What's been going on with you lately?" The bluenette replied as he handed him a spare fishing rod and led him to the edge of the walkway and sat down with him._

_"Not much. Just got out of an exhibit with the boys. You?"_

_"Ah, just those ol' Lemonade bastards stirring up trouble. Nothing new on my half."_

_"Heh, yeah." The brunette agreed as he whipped the fishing line into the water next to Bruno's. They fish for a while, scoring and releasing numerous kinds of fish while exchanging conversations about certain things going on in their lives until sunset hit and it was time to go._

_Before Ezain got ready to take off, the bluenette came up and pat him on the shoulder. He looked to the side, an eyebrow raised in question._

_"Say, uh, how would ya like to come by here to fish me again sometime? I could use the company."_

_"Same time tomorrow?" He asked in return._

_"Yeah."_


	10. Crash Course

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The end of the curse is near, but yet the last part of the plan has yet to be complete.

The drive back was silent, to say the least. The air among the four thick with tension and the only sounds heard were faint howls and screams accompanied with the lulling sound of rubber transversing on rubble. 

Ezain stared out into the inky blackness sprinkled with little white dots coated in shining pink, his eyes swollen from sobbing and his face damp with tears. Nube patted his shoulder and occasionally stroked across his head as an act of comfort. Arthur stared straight ahead with the man next to him, holding his mostly dead arm, his expression solemn, drained of his usual bubbly, flamboyant personality.

Their rescue mission didn't go as planned and the result of that was the blood on the blonde's hands staining the white steering wheel.

Ryuken's stone gaze remained focused on the road the entire time, at least that was the case. His eyes were shiny and pale red from crying silently and his hands shaky on the steering wheel from earlier. He had the mirror upturned so the pinkhead and the two felines in the back don't catch a glimpse and fought down the nervousness in his hands by tightening them around the wheel, making the white leather creak. 

They don't get to see this side of him, sniveling and shaking all over. They only got to see the ignorant, stuck-up, stoic, sex-crazed bastard Ryuken. Not the Ryuken that's so fucked up inside, that he's all too ready to just curl up in a ball and disappear from the world; no. That was from a long time ago and it's staying right there. It's staying right the fuck there. 

_Just let me go_

The memories of his past began to surface. The discovering of his damnable powers, the murder and desecration of his brothers, the pain, the actions he did, the endless bloodshed.

Not dying through it all when he tried to endless times himself.

Not dying. Ever.

His soft breathing grows heavy and the wheel quaked with him. Ezain looked in his direction.

_I don't want to do this anymore, please let me die_

_Please...Please..._

His foot presses further down on the pedal, increasing speed just as they were halfway to the park, their plan almost complete and this nightmare passed.

_I can't deal with this anymore..._

Arthur begins to tug lightly on his arm, his expression alarmed.

_I want to die_

His pupils glow dark purple and his eyes start to leak that same color in rivulets as he sobbed under his breath. Nube began to say something in Italian.

_Please..._

"Slow down!" Ezain snapped as he leaned forward and roughly grabbed him by the shoulder, squeezing hard, but it meant nothing to him as he only growled in response.

_Let me **die!**_

The light pole in front of him grew closer and closer. All three of them were yelling at him to slow down or stop, all he heard was the blood pumping in his ears and the violent rattle of his heart.

"Dammit, Ken, stop!" The brunette yelled, shooting forward and grabbing his arms.

**_L E T M E D I E!!!_ **

They were mere seconds away from impact, Arthur has already threw open the door and jumped out, rolling around on the ground as Ezain sat back and enveloped the trembling Nube in a tight hug, bracing themselves for impact, awaiting their demise with closed eyes.

It never came. 

Instead of a deafening crash, there was a soft puff and a small gust of air that breezed through the vehicle. Ezain opened one eye, seeing the blonde still frozen in place and a huge ball of fluffy whiteness engulfing the front of the truck. Both his eyes open and he lets out a breath he didn't know he was holding as he let the sky blue cat-free herself from his grasp to shakily open the door and crawl out.

He sat there bug-eyed, tremors all over his body, and panting as he heard her empty her stomach contents on the ground outside. He tried to make sense of the recurring events leading up to now, his mind scrambling over itself trying to find the proper explanation for Ryuken's sudden suicide attempt and the giant cloud thing saving him and Nube from certain death.

The guy had it bad, he knew as much from what his brother had told him behind closed doors. The loss of his family, him being mostly immortal, the mass murdering of the policemen and their families, everything. It just never clicked to him that he'd suffer from the memory of it all, that much he gathered from the earlier scare.

The cloud that saved his life though...

It could be Nube's. She could summon a multitude of clouds that can do just about anything she sees fit doing. As great a power it was for her, she never really practiced much with it, much less experiment in it. Like, how big can she make it, how durable is it, is it reliable in combat, and so on. 

Could she have managed to somehow summon a big-enough cloud to soften the impact? He's not too sure how it happened, since she was cowering in his arms, but they were alive and that's all that mattered.

Getting out of the truck and coming to the feline's aid, who was on all fours, her hat discarded a few feet away, coughing and hacking up all she had in her. He gently pat her back and rubbed down one of her ears as Arthur comes running.

"Oh my God! Are you guys ok?! Where's Ryuken?! Is the load safe?!" He spat out in a frenzy, whipping his head to the brunette, to the truck, and the back of it. Before Ezain could answer, a click and a slam echo out in the night air, followed by skidding.

Stepping from the now doorless driver side of the truck was the shaking blonde, whose eyes were lavender, his cheeks stained with purple, and his long magenta lock absent of its vibrant color.

"G-gurrie?" The Noxian shuddered as he stepped closer to Nube but away from him.

He wasn't upset by all means, but Ezain could beg to differ.

"Dude, are you...alright?" He asked, pausing slightly on the last part, unsure of how to approach him like this. Ryuken only shrugged and looked into the bed of the truck and back to him.

"I'm fine." He murmured, reaching into the pile and pulling out a dripping flounder. He tossed it to the brunette who caught it and give him a questioned look. "She'll probably need that." 

"But..." Ezain started before he was cut off.

"I didn't sense any mercury in it, it's ok." He stated bluntly, narrowing his eyes at the pinkhead who was set to say something.

Taking a deep breath, the feline got down and helped Nube upright, placing the fish in her open paw when she could keep herself up. "Here, this'll help get your strength back."

Panting, she wordlessly bites into it, chewing up and swallowing its tantalizing flesh and meat, minding the bones, purring silently. All while the boys stared in contempt until she finished and tossed the skeleton aside, breathing a sigh of relief.

"Grazie, I needed that." She said with a smile before hugging and kissing the brunette on the cheek. He blushed and gave a small nod before patting her hatless head and hugging her back. Despite his disheveled look, Ryuken smirked faintly while Arthur awwed softly.

"Y-you're welcome, Nube.

When they pulled away, he turned back to the two giving him that 'someone's got a girlfriend' look. He rolled his eyes and began reaching into the truck and pulling out two bags of fish. They follow and do the same while she retracted and dispersed the huge cloud before joining in.

"We're almost out of this fuzzy bonanza," Ryuken declared as he carried the bags into the park towards the center of the park and dumped them on the stone floor in the middle of the four-way passage walkway. "We've got one shot, so we need to make this count."

Ezain set down his bounty of fish bags, swallowing down a few, before burping and wiping his mouth, "We're all ears, boss. How's it going down?"

"Like I said before, we get all these here, lure in every werecat, and have Pinkusutā no shōnen here gas em. Easy enough, huh?" The blonde explained, wrapping an arm around Arthur's neck and pulling him close. "You got that?"

He nodded, "Yes, but I've one question if you will."

"Hmm?" He raised an eyebrow.

"How are we going to lure all 24- no, 30 of them down here? Don't we need like, a flare gun or something?" He asked, mimicking the blonde's voice at his own peril. Luckily, he pretended not to have acknowledge it.

"And besides, even if we do by then, what about us? What should we do?" Nube piped up with paws on her hips after dropping the last bag on the pile. 

"You two will be somewhere safe while we handle the rest." The blonde replied nonchalantly as he raised a hand to the sky, something manifesting in it. "And besides, whether it shoots bullets or not, I can still bring it out if it's got a trigger."

None of them were in doubt anymore when the gun that Ryuken had spawned was indeed a flare gun. Arthur felt his face heating up and his body tremble as he brought it down in front of them for a better view.

"Is there no limit to his power?" Nube gaped.

"I am not so sure. But at least he can't spawn a minigun." Ezain said, amazed.

Smirking at this, he reached down into his pocket and pulled out two vials. One with blue liquid and a symbol of a pizza with purple lines over it and the other that can reverse this curse. He capped off the top and held it out for the pinkhead to dip his finger into as he dumped the blue one all over the piles of fish. He ushered him back and they watched the pile begin to smoke bright blue and then green.

"What was that vial for?" He asked incredulously as he stared hypnotized at the pretty colors rising off the pile into the sky.

"Boosting the flavor and focusing those buff furballs attention all on the prize instead of you," Ryuken answered, raising his gun hand to the sky and looking at the pair who watched from a few meters away.

"I dunno about you two, but you'd better hoof it someplace safe if you don't want to get trampled." He said.

Ezain nodded and gazed at the smaller feline, who shared the same look, both blushing slightly. He hesitantly held out a paw, offering her to take it.

"You, uh, wanna c-come with, Nube?" He asked, stammering.

She couldn't help but look up at him in this expression she remembered to be...admiration. Sure, he was bedmates with the cazzone that wrecks her field of flowers daily, but at a time like this, she would have to put it aside this one time and comply. She knew he could be informal at times, but his charm was in the right place all the same and it made her heart beat and her fur heat up whenever he showed it to her without knowing.

And she felt it at this present moment, but fiercer. Her only course of action from there was to timidly take his larger paw and hold back a gas when he closed it.

"I-I would love to, signore Ezain." She stuttered, blushing through her fur.

He smiled softly and led her away from what was going to be the greatest catastrophe tonight. The two cats go off the premises towards one of the houses that was recently broken into and he offered to go first. To Nube's surprise, instead of going inside through the open door, he leaped up onto the roof in a single bound. Perks for being a werecat. She walked up and let the bundle of clouds gathered at her feet to lift her and set her down beside him before evaporating.

* * *

"Are you sure this will work, Ryu?" Arthur asked uncertainty as he was hoisted up into one of the trees a safe distance onto a durable branch from the glowing pile by the blonde while standing on a table he dragged with him.

"It will, trust me." He reassured, getting down and stretching before heading back towards the pile while calling back, "And remember, when all of them are on the pile, you let it rip, we got one shot at this."

Arthur gave him a salute with his good arm as he turned around. When he got back towards the pile, he looked up at the pink moon, drawing in a deep breath and exhaling before aiming the transparent gun up at the moon,

" _Soshite ima, watashi no iro de, subete no jigoku ga tokihanata remasu_."

And pulled the trigger.


	11. So close, yet so far

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Not all of the werecats were affected the fog...

And there it is. The little shining flare round shone brightly in the pink-shaded night, slowly floating to the ground before growing dimmer and dimmer, eventually disappearing like the flickering flame in the winter. Ezain held Nube tighter, feeling a slight tremor from the roof.

The blonde shot two more rounds up into the sky, watching them burn bright and float down gently before becoming dim and vanishing. He scoffed, the flare gun in his hand fading away as he went to one of the trees a couple meters away and jumped onto a sturdy branch.

He bounced on it a few times to test its endurance, which was a mistake. Because it snapped and broke, sending him crashing to the ground with a startled yelp. Arthur chuckled at the sight, thanking his lucky stars he couldn't be heard from here.

And the two waited, hearing and watching for any signs of the werecats. The Noxian up in the tree steadied and kept himself upright, his focus dead-center on the fish that will soon cease to be. The Noxian's humored demeanor shifted to readiness when he heard a faint howl from far off in the distance.

"Any moment now," He said, his voice low. "I can sense them approaching."

Arthur was right by that notion, because he felt rather than hear a soft rumbling from the ground, making his seat in the tree wobbly. Ryuken felt it as well, just as he sat up and swept all the leaves from his head and dusted off his ripped shirt.

The two on the rooftop held each other tighter as the tremors beneath them grew steadily in intensity and volume. The Pinkster dipped a finger into the vial again as he felt the dab on his fingertip dry as he scooted further on the large branch, taking great caution not to let it rupture.

It got louder and louder alongside the yowls and meows as Ryuken leaped up into the tree once more just as he saw one dash in past one of the light poles.

Here they come...

"Mio Dio, stanno arrivando a migliaia!" Nube exclaimed in surprise as the wave of werecats indeed came, but not in the way she expected. Instead of them simply trotting from all sides towards the heavenly aroma where the fish laid, it was quite the opposite.

They all came rushing forth from every direction on all fours from where they sat in a blur. Their snarls overlapping one another, their huge paws stomping the ground in unison shaking the very earth. Arthur, despite the intense shaking, kept himself firmly upright as some were felines, whose torn clothes and fur colors looked familiar to him, bolted down to the middle of the park, the rest close behind. He lifted his good arm, pointing at the rapidly growing mass of large cats feasting.

It made a chill go up his spine. Apparently, there were a few more werecats than he had sensed, but it didn't make too much of a difference. He'll make the fog he's about to cast cover over 100% of the park. If he isn't noticed and chased after.

Ryuken had slipped and fallen from the tree once again caused by the violent shaking from the stampede, but he didn't need to worry about being attacked when he sat up to watch. The vial he poured on the fish pile not only made it taste heavenly but made its scent so potent that it's all they'll ever focus on, even if he pets one of them. He would've gotten up to do so, but the time has come to let it rip.

He got up and circled around to where Arthur was in sight and raised his hand that glowed, waving it around to signal him to let it rip as soon as he got thee. He saw him nod and take aim. With that being said, he made his way around the large crowd towards him. When he got there, he stood beside him away from arms reach as he saw his finger give off a weird rouge-ish glow along with his eyes.

"It looks like that's all of em, you ready?" He asked as he watched pieces of nets and fish heads fly from the undulating pile of fur and muscles. What with the torn clothing and vivid-colored pelts shining in some of the light from the poles, it looked satisfying, but not when the taste is gone and the focus is on them.

"Yeah, just need a few seconds to calibrate the size of the fog." The Noxian replied closing his eyes and humming something unintelligible with the blonde raising an eyebrow in confusion before he opens them again, his eyes only a watermelon glow.

"And now!"

The dab of orange on his fingertip began to smoke and sink into the pores of his finger, the glow on it turning a shade of dull mandarin, encasing his entire hand as he grimaced. Ryuken took a step back as his entire arm was enveloped in a bright rust shine.

The pinkette let out an exerted grunt as the glow shrunk down to his finger and released a merigold clouded blast of the antidote in large streams, growing larger the farther it traveled across from where they stood.

Ezain whoa'ed silently, mesmerized by the sight of the giant fog, unlike Nube who stared at the enormous pile of werecats converging on the large pile of fish, her tail twitching. It wasn't that she had to miss out on gorging down upon the delicious fish, but that she could've been there as one with them were it not for Ezain's call.

If she could be honest, it sounded almost like a mating call, if she could call it that.

Once all of the antidote has been fired from Arthur's finger, his entire arm went limp and he fell backward, his energy completely tapped out from the effort he put into it. The blonde, against his better judgment, caught him and gently sat him down against the tree. When he turned back, he saw the huge merigold cloud blow forward and encase all of the werecats in its radius just as the last piece of fish was disposed of.

The beasts all pawed and sniffed at the tainted air in confusion and curiosity as they rubbed and licked at themselves and each other as they felt their fur begin to dampen before a strangled yowl filled the air. Ryuken crossed the Noxians arms and jogged off to watch the scene closer.

Upon jumping up into a nearby tree, he watched in interest as a ginger werecat was writhing on the ground as a group of them stood around him in confusion, then shock as its fur began to smoke and evaporate while its muscle mass shrunk until only a man with torn clothing laid unconscious, who was revealed to be Regian.

"No way..." Ezain mumbled, having caught up to investigate the yowl he heard earlier after having Nube stay in the truck.

They both get down and watch as the horde of werecats entrapped in the huge fog began to suffer the same thing as well. Each of them hunching over and smoldering one-by-one as they tried to figure out why their own packmates were falling down sick and becoming enveloped in smoke. A red cat with a half-moon symbol on its chest (Vayne) doubled over on all fours while another with saber teeth and one eye (Punto) followed with while two more with scaled juniper and blonde fur (Nathan & Nicholas) fell over as well. By then, most of the werecats, including a select six, had been turned back and were unconscious.

Some of them, that hadn't turned back yet, had spotted the two and charged at them. Ryuken jumped to the side as a werecat with hot pink fur and a scarf with ripped clothing (Sheldon) swiped at him as Ezain wrestled around on the ground with another that had grey fur with black dots and green wings (Arch).

A third with teal fur and mauve hair (Lavenda) went to aid the one pinning the brunette but was shocked and rendered unconscious by one of the clouds Nube had floating around.

The blonde blocked another swipe from the pink beast's paw, but fell victim to the other, which scraped across his chest. He grunted, not only in pain but in annoyance, as there was yet another claw mark applied to his already ripped shirt. He threw a palm strike at its nose before it could swipe at him again, making him stumble backward with a yowl. He went low before it could recover, smashing his forearm into its groin before popping up and following his assault with two more strikes to the face.

The beast could do nothing else but crumple to the ground as it began to lose mass and smolder. He looked over and saw the other on top of Ezain, strangling him. With a sigh, he took his time to get over and help while closing the wounds on his chest, leaving a faint scar.

"H-help me out here, will you?! G-ah!" He choked out as he tried to lessen the pressure on his neck while smashing his legs repeatedly against the werecats back.

"Alright, alright, I gotcha-" He couldn't finish as he felt a force slam into him, sending him crashing into the burly cat, causing it to release and go down on the ground with him. Ezain sat up in a hurry, coughing and rubbing at his sore throat. He and the blonde look up towards what snuck up on one of them.

Standing there with a smirk was a lesser buff but well-built werecat with its paws on its hips. Its hair long, its zero-symboled shirt ripped and hanging from his frame like its pants, and had white fur (Zero). It wasn't with the rest of the buff felines that went to gorge on the fish, which meant it wasn't affected by the fog, obviously.

They stand up and get together against the beast, side-by-side, not paying attention to the one in the back as it was shocked by one of the clouds up above and immediately went back down.

"Friggin' Zero. You go high, I go low." Ryuken mumbled as the brunette nodded and got into a stance. Without further hesitation, he dashed forward, launching a roundhouse kick aimed for his jaw, but alas it didn't make contact. Zero caught him by the ankle just centimeters from contact and wagged a finger at him. He scoffed jumped up, swinging the other leg, hoping to get him in the ear or the cheek. But he was caught by his foot by his other paw and was brought to the ground.

Seeing an opening, Ryuken went in for a spinning back fist, but it didn't make it when the werecat holding the other by his legs swung him around into the human as though he were a sack of sand as he shouted in distress. He felt his teeth go into his side and yelped as they were both sent to the ground. Ezain

"Ezain!" Nube exclaimed as she watched the whole thing from inside the truck.

The brunette felt that some of his teeth were loosened and slick with blood, but it didn't stop him from getting up and rushing at the beast whose laughing was raspy. Instead of repeating his earlier attack, he threw a multitude of kicks that went medium and high. Most of them were blocked and brushed off thanks to the feline's increasing speed in his strikes. When another one hit and made Zero stumble back, he followed up with an ax kick directly to his shoulder.

He grunted, bringing the werecat down to its knees, looking to bring his leg back and snap it across his face, but the beast growled and smacked his leg away, getting up to slash his claws across his cheek and deliver a hefty uppercut to his chin.

He went down hard, but Ryuken was already up and at him. He aimed each punch at whatever Zero had exposed as he threw punch after punch with calculated ease. He came back, getting in a few hits of his own, hitting the blonde in the face, and almost slashed at his eye when he retaliated with a swift front kick to the chin and a low roundhouse kick to his middle, pushing him away.

Before he could close the distance to wrap it up, the werecat snarled and dug a paw into his head. Ryuken simply scoffed and manifested a beretta, taking aim at his head. However, he was too slow on the draw when Zero swiftly pulled out a red glowing knife and flicked it at him, hitting home on the back of his hand.

He felt the burning and evaporating of his blood before the steel and screamed out as he dropped the disappearing weapon and stumbled back, feeling a chunk of his skin cook and melt away into smoke as he hastily dislodged the knife. The beast came at him, throwing four rapid jabs at his face that hit in rapid succession before kicking him in the chest, sending him down on the ground once more right as Ezain had recovered.

As they fought, Ryuken rolled around in the grass grunting and wailing out in short bursts as he gripped his burnt hand. He couldn't move his fingers and the burning was reduced to an unbearable ache. He rarely felt this kind of pain, or at all, because once he did, it was excruciatingly painful. Probably even more to him than anyone else if he remembered correctly on what he was told when he first got these powers a long time ago.

Calming down, he shakily lifted his hand to assess the damage and felt sick to his stomach. A good chunk of his skin from the back around to his thumb was burnt off and mushy at the edges, revealing the cooked muscles beneath it with some bone exposed. His plasma blood could only do so much, like melding and fixing the scorched part of the skin and making only a few of his fingers operable, but it couldn't be completely closed up and the muscle was too dry.

It wouldn't fully heal for a while and he could hardly make a fist with it. Other than that, he could still fight with the other hand and be victorious but he couldn't risk getting it wounded as well. But he wouldn't have a choice by then.

The odds Ezain had placed against him while facing off against the werecat weren't in his favor, seeing as he was more worse for wear than the beast in front of him. Multiple claw gashes adorned his blood-caked chest and had a few on his face alongside the blood leaking from his mouth, some of his teeth missing, and a piece of his ear missing.

Zero had only one scratch across his cheek, a bloody nose, and a slightly blackened eye. He summoned both clones to attack him while he focused on keeping his breathing even.

The beast, having grown stronger, endured the relentless kicks and punches rained down upon him by the brunette's copies who were without a scratch. He winced when one kick from one of them him in the diaphragm and dashed back when another got him in the jaw.

When he got some breathing room and time to attack, the clone on right ran up and tried to land an inverted ax kick but made the mistake of going for the shoulder when Zero grabbed it by the leg and slung it full force into the ground, shattering it into many pieces before they turned white and puffed into smoke. Ezain doubled over, coughing up blood when he felt something take a hit inside of him. He didn't know if it was his ribs or his lungs, but it hurt like hell either way.

His remaining clone shook with rage at the death of its companion and sprung forward with an outcry of rage, spinning once before swinging its leg out at him, a wave of energy flew from it. Zero gasped and stepped to the side as it shot past him, hitting a bench, splitting it cleanly in two. Taking advantage of his shock, the clone rushed in and threw a multitude of kicks that managed to land up to five times in a row before the beast powered through the pain blooming in his cheek and blinking away the blood flowing from his forehead, shooting a paw forward, his claws out and razor-sharp.

Before the clone rearing up another kick could react, the buff cat's clawed fingers pierce through its chest and come out through its back as though he were cleaving through a towel made of paper. It gagged and tried futilely to pull his paw out, but it was no use, especially since he was being lifted into the air. Ezain felt his ribcage undulate some more and cried out in pain as it grew more intolerable to bear. It became too much for Nube to bear as she went running out of the car towards the two men, dodging the half-naked bodies that slept in the grass.

She slid to the brunette's side and held him up as he groaned in agony.

"Ezain, hold on!" She said, trying to keep him upright as Ryuken went up to try and shield her.

"N-nub-Nube, what are y-you doing? You'll get hurt if you try to help out." He struggled to get out as the pain in his chest doubled when the werecat holding his clone up began to sink another paw in where he impaled it and began to pull apart. The clone was already starting to evaporate, but he was ripped in two before he did completely. By that happening, the brunette's ribs cracked and the center split in two and he screamed out in agony.

"Ezain, no!" The feline cried in terror while Ryuken stared wide-eyed at the faint bulge in the brown cat's chest.

The beast laughed, his voice clearer as he watched the lesser crumble in on himself and vomit blood while the human beside him growled and stood up, a mac 10 tight in his good hand and his eyes and pupils violet. Nube wiped her tears as she stood herself, electricity coursing throughout her entire body as the many clouds up in the sky lowered down beside her and merged into one big cloud that matched half her size and was dark in color.

"What's this?" Zero said as he stood and smiled maliciously at the pair ready to murder him, their glares looking like they were burrowing deep into his soul. "Your final stand? I don't think you two realize who you're dealing with at this present moment. Do you?"

"Yeah," Ryuken started. "Neko no naka no shinda otoko."

The feline next to him wasted no time in shoving a paw into the thunder cloud and pointing it towards the cocky albino, who beckoned her to attack with a finger. She snarled darkly as the thunder cloud in her paw pulsed to her emotions.

"Take this, **_MASSIMO SCIOPERO_ **!!!" Nube screeched as the huge cloud thinned into a cannon and shot forth a huge blast of electrical that arked side to side, striking Zero and encasing him in a huge aura of yellow that illuminated the entire park from where they fought. Numerous small bolts of lightning went through and coursed through the spazzing beast that shrieked in horror.

Meanwhile, Arthur had awoke, the bright yellow light obscuring his sight. He sat up in a hurry after getting his bearing and got up, which took some effort as his left arm was barely functional and the right was completely numb and dead, and walked towards the scene, mesmerized by what took place. The still-alive bodies riddled across the park, some a few feet away, and a sky blue cat girl watching an already smoldering werecat get shocked while Ryuken watched in amazement. He looked slightly to the left and saw Ezain face-down in a small puddle of his blood and gasped in shock.

He didn't know what had transpired during his slumber but he needed to help out.

When he came running over, the blonde took notice of him almost instantly.

"Pinkster!" He said, turning his head to him when he went over to the brunette barely even moving.

"What happened?!" He half-snapped as he shook him gently, checking to see if he was still alive. Ryuken scoffed, turning to move the cat over and get to work. Before he did, everything went quiet all of a sudden. No brimming electricity, no screaming, just silence. He turned back around to the smoking albino still standing his head lowered and Nube down on one knee, panting.

"I got him with everything I could muster, but he's still unscathed. Ho-how?" She said, clearly confused. it was a direct hit, she saw it with her own eyes, was she seeing things? She nodded to the stoic blonde to finish him off and he shambled forward, a sawed-off in one hand. He planted the muzzle against his head and pulled trigger when he found he couldn't move his finger to action.

It was frozen in place with his hand. And it stung fiercely.

"What the- _grhk_!"

He was suddenly blown back farther than where Arthur was tending to Ezain, who could barely even stand, let alone sit up, sliding to a stop among the unconscious bodies, knocked out.

"I-impossible..." Nube drew out in absolute terror when she saw that Zero was indeed unharmed by her strongest attack and stood tall, and with a grin. He pulled aside a bit of his hair to reveal that a badge with a mirror symbol was next to his ear.

"Surprised are we? It appears that it slipped your mind that my power is equal to Michael's but more on the potent side."

"T-then that means...?" Arthur trailed off as he too stared at the werecat enveloped in a golden aura in horror.

"Yes. Oh, and I believe this returns back to you, mademoiselle~." He purred deeply as he held his outstretched palm towards the feline frozen on the spot and out shot the same blast of electricity that she had delivered to him before her eyes. It was the same but had twice the intensity, not only would it electrocute her to oblivion, but it would undoubtedly kill her.

The Noxian, without so much as a conscious thought, ran in front of her to block the deadly bolt of lightning, much to the barely awake brunette's surprise. It was a brave and noble act of shielding the damsel from harm, but it was useless and ill-conceived.

Not only did the bolt thrash and deeply electrocute the pinkette, cooking him from the inside-out, but it passed through and got Nube the same as well. The bolt shot off in the distance, hitting and destroying a tree far off, sending splinters and pieces of leaves raining all over a part of the park.

Regardless of the black dots dancing in his eyes and the scorching hot yet cool sensation running all over him, Arthur still stood tall. The large area where he was struck through his shirt burnt black and had a medium-sized hole through it where his lung would be. His clothes were singed and ripped in ripples from the area of impact, 3rd degree burnt patches all over his body, and a desolate look.

Sprawled out on the ground behind him was the cat, her upper body stuck out and blackened and burnt, a smaller hole through her upper chest area in the middle of a 2nd degree scarred ring that sizzled, and a frozen look of horror and pain on her face while her eye twitches occasionally.

"How surprising, you still stand even though you are mere steps from death's door. Commendable, I must say." Zero applauded at the tenacity of the Noxian still on his feet. "Or maybe you're already there, hmm?"

Arthur only gave him a small smirk before collapsing down on the grass, dead.

"Ugh, ghh- N-Nube. Arthur- hnk." Ezain get out through a weak set of coughs as he tried to crawl forward and hug the still feline as tears rolled down his eyes. He only got an inch closer due to the grievous injury within him before he was grabbed by the neck and hoisted into the air.

"And now you die. After that, I'll turn all my loyal subjects back, and we will pillage the richer parts of Gladiatorville." The werecat said as he raised a paw, ready to tear out his heart.

All Ezain could do at this point was close his eyes and hope that all of this was just a nightmare when felt the claws tear into his chest.

But it never came.


	12. End of the number Zero

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The end has come at last, with both rivals settling it once and for all.
> 
> The final chapter to the series, now at its closing peak. Thank you for reading, I really appreciate it. Now, all that's left is Possession. See ya there.

It all happened so fast. So fast, he could barely perceive the process of it. Almost like time had been accelerated beyond belief and he could only sit and watch it go.

Perhaps he had one eye open when it happened, probably. He wasn't sure of it in the slightest nor could he have had the time to memorize it when he saw it. An emerald blur from the corner of his fading vision right when Zero was going to either rip his heart out or disembowel him. It wouldn't have mattered what he'd do, he would've been dead either way.

And then the sudden relief on his neck when he crumpled down onto the ground, groaning from the sensation of his split rib cage rubbing together. Gathering himself up to kneel, he raised a shaking paw to his neck to rub away the discomfort and allow himself to breathe properly, despite the ache in his bones, mostly his rib cage from the inside.

A pained yowl sounded out in the night air, forcing him to look stiffly in the direction of it, and be taken aback by what he saw. 

About 11 feet away from him was Zero, hunched over and poised to attack, a bleeding sizeable bite mark on the nape of his neck and on his bicep, along with a large claw mark strewn diagonally up his chest that bled, probably from how deep it was. 

Across from him, hunched over and positioned to pounce, was none other than Mike Df, the green blur he only got a glimpse of at the moment he would have died. A portion of his fur on his side smoked from grazing the anti-catification fog cast by Arthur at some point, his eyes wild with rage, his blood-slicked fangs bared, and his tail swishing angrily about.

It had occurred to Ezain that he must've come in when most of the huge pack of werecats were turning back, either looking to get in on the banquet or to him when he, along with the blonde fought off some of the werecats that came after them. 

Or probably when he saw Zero about to kill him after knocking away Ryuken and striking down the rest afterward. He knew the greenster loved him to some extent, but not to protective levels. Could it be an instinct from his feline side, or was the Noxian side of it taking the reigns? He couldn't be too sure on which, but he'll have to watch to find out for himself.

"Hmph, didn't think you would save an enemy of our species, dear Michael. Though, I applaud you for launching that sneak attack without me knowing, some of the wounds you bestowed unto me in quick succession is a bonus." Zero said, clapping slowly.

Mike simply snarled and shot forward on all fours, his claws outstretched and aimed at the albino's face. But his attack was merely sidestepped, or so it was. The burly feline rebounded a split second after his miss, and turned, swiping again, feeling his claws slice across fur and skin, earning him a back fist to the jaw. But it didn't deter him from returning the favor with a harsh open-pawed slap to where he hit his would-be alter ego after landing on the ground.

He grunted and jumped back, a paw feeling the damaged area up, and growled deeply as he got down on all fours and prowled around the greenette doing the same. They both meow with malice as they circled around each other, waiting for the other to make their move.

Their staredown lasted a moment or two before the emerald-furred cat made the first move by rushing in towards Zero, who was all too prepared to meet him in close combat. He saw his leg kick out at him and he blocked it, countering with an uppercut and a kick to his side. Mike faltered but struck back with another smack from his other paw before bringing his fist down on his nose when he stumbled from the first hit.

Taking the opportunity, he went down on the disoriented werecat, throwing any and all kinds of strikes at him wherever he could reach with all the power and agility of an alien planet-infused cat. His claws scraping away at fur, skin, any part of the pompous bastard he could get until he was promptly shoved off.

He went tumbling down just as over half of his body began to smolder. Towering over him was Zero, who was now had worse wounds and deeper scratch marks, barely able to stand and his breathing labored. His alabaster fur now disheveled and caked in blood while more oozed down his body and dripped on the ground. Mike quickly stood up, ready to rip into him some more before he spoke.

"I- _pant_ \- was gonna go easy on you, Mike. B-but, _kh_ , you really just pissed me off. So now I'm going to personally make you wish you were never _ever_ born." He seethed as he shakily stood up straight and let his claws slip out as his sharp teeth became even sharper. 

"Then shut up," Mike growled, his voice deep and raspy as he bared his fangs at him. " _ **And fight**_!" 

And with that being said, both werecats began to not only bite at one another but also claw and rip as well while Ezain and a few others that have awaken watched in awe at the brutality of these two. It was similar to that scene out of The Lion King where Simba and Scar face in a majestic battle. Except that this wasn't pride rock, both lions are anthropomorphic, Simba being emerald-furred, Scar being white, and this battle between them being a lot more than majestic.

It was as brutal as your standard form of lions fighting, or bloodthirsty werecats for that matter. What with the green cat slicing the other across the eye, just mere centimeters from gouging it before he tackled him and bit off a piece of his ear before the same was done to him in return, but messier. When he pulled back to spit it out, Zero lashed up, biting into his chest. Yowling, the greenette flipped over with him in tow and dug his sharp claws into his back, feeling the blood well up, and ran them down across his back, creating a set of gashes.

Doing that made the albino growl louder and yank his head back, taking a clump of fur and flesh with it. In retaliation to this, the werecat lurched, knocking him off, and yanked him up to his feet before latching down in his cheek. He let go when Zero jammed a sharp nail into his eye, just barely missing the sclera when he jerked back but carved a nasty gash next to it.

Whoa, gnarly, man." Sheldon Hertz mumbled as he watched the bloodbath next to the brunette and the dotted humanoid while a barely conscious Mach came by with his brother slung over his shoulder.

"Man, this is just, wow. I can remember doing something like that to a guy dressed in blue, but this? No." He said, cringing internally when Mike bit down hard on the beast's tail.

Ezain didn't react to the comments from the few besides him, much less acknowledge their existence. The only thing he was focused on, was the battle being fought here in front of him, the actions of his lover deciding not only his fate but the fates of those roped into all of this and those that will be before the morning.

Their bloody battle waged like a fierce inferno against the brutal force of the wind for an astounding five minutes, never backing down and never giving up. Their ferocity matching the bright shine of a shooting star before it dimmed. Both werecats push against each other weakly, their fighting spirits almost diminished and their breathing ragged. Zero flailed his bleeding and mutilated paws against the greenette's blood-caked chest as he gnawed weakly at his neck with two of his fangs missing.

Mike tried to push him off, but it was too much effort to put up with, considering his arms were more gravely damaged than Zero's, but he finally managed after mustering up the last of his strength. The bloody feline dropped to the floor, hardly moving yet he was still breathing. He stood over him, breathing shallowly as he spat on him and barely managed to flip him the bird before turning and limping towards Ezain whose focus remained entirely on him even though he was worse for wear.

"M-Mikey..."

The beast in front of him placed a wavering paw on his mused hair, "Zans..." He drew out in a low deep tone despite his injuries. He shakily gets up himself and looked him in his pitch-black eyes, staring deep into those glowing blue pupils, no words leaving him, especially when he entrapped the barely standing greenster in a tight hug, purring. The onlookers, save for Mach and Shiano, left, concluding this night as another thing to be left in the past.

The albino shuffled towards the two hugging it out and joined in, regardless of the sticky, messy, but soft sensation. All three stood there, embracing each other as a celebration to saving everyone and probably the city. They've plenty to fix up once everyone has recovered from this nighttime adventure.

However...

"I-I'm, n-n-not done, ye...yet!" 

Mach was the first to notice the albino were feline before the trio. And he alerted them with an alerted yelp. "H-hey, watch out! He's still up and at it!"

Ezain was still too caught up in his moment to react as fast, but it couldn't be possible considering his condition. He was sure Mike felt the same way and he wasn't in any shape for a round two himself. But Shiano could take him.

Alas, he was swatted away into the ground before he could make a move. Mach did but held out on it when someone else came up behind the rabid beast.

"Your lives are min-" He shouted but then was cut off by the deafening sound of rapid-fire as he jolted and spasmed in place, his eyes wide open and his mouth wide. The sound stopped for a moment before it picked up again, this time making the beast drop down on his knees and fall to the ground on his side, deceased. The one responsible for putting down Zero was revealed to be Ryuken, who stood a foot away, a glowing pmx in his good hand.

Blood ran down from the corner of his mouth and there was a dark red palm welt where he was hit and sent flying. Ezain and Mike turned back and gave him a thumbs-up before he did the same in return.

"There, everything's back to normal now." He said, dismissing the gun he held and walked off without so much as a word, passing the blonde attempting to fix back his crooked glasses, who followed with.

"Shouldn't we revive the rest, brother? Including Ezina and Mestello" Shiano reminded, pointing to the crowd that was slowly coming to and towards the two Harts sleeping curled up on the stone pass next to Keith, Marshall, and Uomo.

Sighing, the blonde trudged over and carefully picked up the blonde by the waist and hoisted him over his shoulder while the younger carried the orangette bridle style. "Hope you like exercise on the way back, Foureyes. Because if you drop with her wherever you walk, you're there until morning."

Shiano simply rolled his eyes beneath his glasses and tried his best to keep up.

As the two disappeared into the pink night, Mach pointed his thumb back somewhere, braced Leo Cannon, and jumped high, flying off into the night sky. As for these two cats, they had quite a bit to get done. First, they bring Arthur back with them and set him down to rest after Nube's burial, even though she would be back by tomorrow, good as new.

* * *

The sun shone brightly in the early morning, casting its healthy glow upon all of Gladiatorville and beyond. Those a part of Nox's nightly shine had the memory of such events fresh in their mind, but it mattered not, seeing as it was no more.

Ezain was the first to wake up, wiping the sleep from his eyes as he sat up yawning and stretching. When he scratched his sore back, he turned to Mike's side. He almost gasped in fear when he saw he was a feline still after drinking the antidote last night, but calmed down, knowing that he was not the feral werecat he once was.

Smiling, he scooted over and wrapped his arms around his torso, bringing himself in for a hug. The soft purring and trilling along with his soft milky fur calmed his heart and almost lulled him back to sleep, if not for his usual sleep talk, which was this cute meowing and mumbling of past events before he felt him stir and yawn himself. 

Turning around face-to-face with the brunette, the green feline booped their noses together and gave his a soft peck. "Morning, Zans."

With a warm smile, he pressed his forehead against his as he cupped his chin with a finger, staring with love into his eyes, "Morning, Mikey."

"You ready for today, bro?" He asked, coiling a paw around his waist.

"Yeah, let's do it." He answered before planting his lips on the feline's.

**End**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Been a hell of a ride, huh?


End file.
